Meritocracy in Education: The Truth Behind Gender Disparities in STEM

A 2024 study has disclosed a gender disparity in US engineering majors, showing a 7:1 ratio of men to women, particularly in colleges with less stringent SAT math score requirements. This gap, however, underscores not systemic bias but the importance of merit-based achievement and individual choice in the sciences. While elite schools make headway in artificially balancing gender ratios, less selective institutions illustrate the natural outcomes of free choice and aptitude in education. This situation raises questions about the push for gender parity in fields where interests and abilities may inherently differ.