Lack of Gender Representation in Academia: The Experiences of Female STEM Students

• Published date: 01 January 2025
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/02750740241267918
• Author: Maayan Davidovitz,Rachel Gali Cinamon
• Date: 01 January 2025

Lack of Gender Representation in

Academia: The Experiences of Female

STEM Students

Maayan Davidovitz

1

and Rachel Gali Cinamon

1

Abstract

Studies of representative bureaucracy emphasize that minorities’representation in public organizations helps promote their

interests. Some areas, however, suffer from a distinct lack of minority representation. Although studies in the f‌ield focus on

the actions of minority public servants in representing citizens like them, we examine the behavior of majority group street-

level bureaucrats toward minorities. Using interviews with female STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics)

students from f‌ive Israeli academic institutions, we investigate whether male faculty members’interactions with female stu-

dents ref‌lect their perceptions of the latter’s lack of representation. We f‌ind that one direct outcome is that male faculty

members’unequal and discriminatory behavior offends female students. Through this behavior, these faculty members also

signal to the majority group students that this behavior toward women is legitimate, which is an indirect outcome. Finally,

female students behave insecurely in this environment. Public managers should be aware that not only is passive representa-

tion required in public organizations, but also that in areas with distinct male representation, majority group street-level

bureaucrats play an important role in creating an environment that is fair and equitable for minorities.

Keywords

representative bureaucracy, lack of representation, gender representation, STEM students, street-level bureaucracy

Introduction

The theory of representative bureaucracy focuses on the con-

nection between the social and demographic representation

of public servants, whether they are senior bureaucrats or

those who work on the street level, and how they use their

discretion when delivering public services (e.g., Atkins

et al., 2014; Bishu & Kennedy, 2020; Meier, 2019; Sowa

& Selden, 2003). For example, the passive representation

of various demographic and social groups in the composition

of public servants improves the services provided to

members of the public who belong to these groups (Bishu

& Kennedy, 2020; Keiser et al., 2002). Indeed, a representa-

tive bureaucracy is necessary to speak for the variety of inter-

ests and needs of different social audiences. Therefore, in

democracies, when citizens see that their identity is repre-

sented, they tend to legitimize public service actions,

regard them as trustworthy and fair, and trust state institutions

(Gade & Wilkins, 2012; Riccucci & Van Ryzin, 2017;

Selden, 1997).

There might be even stronger effects when it comes to

street-level bureaucrats. These frontline workers are the gov-

ernment’s face to the public (Lipsky, 1980, 2010). The inter-

actions they have with people might be the only direct points

of contact between these citizens and the government. In

addition, they might be the only indicator citizens have of

how the government is functioning (Brodkin, 2012). Given

the extensive discretion at their disposal, street-level bureau-

crats could enhance or harm minority citizens’sense of rep-

resentation (Raaphorst & Groeneveld, 2019). We know that

bureaucrats’discretion plays a role in the translation of

passive representation into active representation (Andrews

et al., 2014; Sowa & Selden, 2003). Many studies have dem-

onstrated empirically how minority street-level bureaucrats

use their discretion to actively promote clients who are

like them (Davidovitz & Shwartz-Ziv, 2024; Meier &

Nicholson-Crotty, 2006; Nouman & Cohen, 2023). On the

other hand, minority bureaucrats do not necessarily actively

represent clients like themselves. For example, Xu and

Meier (2022) revealed how women mathematics teachers in

China do not go the “extra mile”for women students.

1

School of Education, The Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities, Tel

Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

Corresponding Author:

Maayan Davidovitz, School of Education, The Lester and Sally Entin Faculty

of Humanities, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel.

Email: maayandavidovitz@gmail.com

Article

The American Review of Public Administration

2025, Vol. 55(1) 84–96

© The Author(s) 2024

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DOI: 10.1177/02750740241267918

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