Published in the journal, Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice<\/em><\/a>, the paper<\/a> examines how the traditional career guidance tools used in education significantly influence the gender-based skills gaps that persist in high-demand careers given their relatively narrow focus on interests.<\/p>\n For example, high-school-age boys, in general, report<\/a> higher interest and self-efficacy in traditionally male-dominated STEM fields. In contrast, high-school-age girls tend to indicate higher interest and self-efficacy in caring professions and education, according to research<\/a> from McCloy\u2019s co-author Patrick J. Rottinghaus, Ph.D., program training director for the Counseling Psychology graduate program at the University of Missouri.<\/p>\n The gender divide also appears later on during college major selection and in pay and skills gaps. Fewer than two out of every 10 engineering majors are women, according to the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce<\/a>. For the technology sector, roughly 80 percent of all computer science graduates are male, according to the National Center for Education Statistics<\/a>. Conversely, women constitute the majority of the lowest earning fields such as education, where 76 percent of workers are female<\/a>.<\/p>\n The COVID-19 economy\u2019s impact on skill development will further accelerate gender-based talent pipeline and compensation differences, placing a premium on personalized interventions that identify and maximize one\u2019s competitive advantages, wrote McCloy, Rottinghaus, and the paper\u2019s other co-authors, Chan Jeong Park of the University of Missouri, Rich Feller, Ph.D., professor of education at Colorado State University, and Todd Bloom, managing director at Western Governors University Labs.<\/p>\n<\/div>