Men may be more likely to pursue careers in science and engineering simply because they think they are better at the subjects than women.
Researchers found that men think they are much better at math than they really are.
Women, on the other hand, tend to accurately estimate their arithmetic prowess, the study found.
‘Gender gaps in the science, technology, engineering and maths fields are not necessarily the result of women’s underestimating their abilities, but rather may be due to men’s overestimating their abilities,’ said Shane Bench of Washington State University in the U.S., leader of a study in Springer’s journal Sex Roles.