Girls begin encountering stereotypes about who belongs in STEM long before they make decisions about university or careers. But does the way we explain those gender differences matter?
A new study published in September 2026 in Social Psychology of Education explored whether presenting gender differences in STEM as changeable and shaped by experience, rather than fixed, could influence how young people think about STEM.
The researchers conducted two preregistered experiments.
The first involved 381 students in Grades 6 and 8 and tested a growth-mindset intervention in computer science. The second involved 220 girls aged 11–12 and explored what happened when gender differences in a new STEM activity were explained through structural factors – such as girls and boys receiving different opportunities – rather than inherent differences.
The findings are interesting precisely because they are not a simple success story.
The interventions did not produce the predicted preregistered effects on motivation. However, girls exposed to structural explanations showed weaker gender-interest stereotypes and were more likely to believe that their interest could develop. In the first study, girls in the growth-mindset condition also reported greater coding interest and identification on some measures.
The message is therefore not that changing the narrative automatically changes girls’ motivation.
Instead, the research suggests something more nuanced: how we explain the gender gap can shape how girls understand it.
If girls hear that boys are simply “more interested” or “naturally better” at technology, the gap can begin to look inevitable. If they understand that opportunities, environments and experiences contribute to these differences, the picture becomes less fixed.
For HER TECH, that distinction matters.
Perhaps we need to be careful not only about the stereotypes we challenge, but also about how we talk about inequality itself.
Because telling girls that a gender gap exists is one thing.
Helping them understand that it does not always have to be this way is another.
