Paper short abstract:

Aliya Kuzhabekova (presenter), Gulfia Kuchumova Nazarbayev University Keywords: women in STEM, post-Soviet, employment transition, STEM pipeline, gender

Paper abstract:

This paperexplores employment experiences of femalescience, technology, engineering andmathematics (STEM) graduates in Kazakhstan, a Central Asian country. Within thelast two decades, the importance of STEM fields in promoting the country’ssocio-economic development has been underscored in national policies. Improvingthe effectiveness of STEM education and increasing the number of STEM graduatesis viewed as the key factor for promoting innovation and research-driveneconomic growth.In highereducation, the government has been supporting the reforms in STEM education byannually allocating the largest proportion of state study grants to STEM majors(Stat.gov, 2020; Demessinova, 2020). By 2025, 70% of all state grants areplanned to be allocated to STEM majors (Bilimdinews.kz, 2022; Ummat, 2022).Thegovernment seeks to recruit talented students to STEM majors, includingfemales, the number of whom has also grown within recent years and now is morethan 50 per cent of the total student population (Akhmetbekov, 2020).However,increasing the supply and retention of female students at all stages of STEMeducation pipeline does not guarantee their long-term participation in the STEMlabor force (White & Smith, 2021). Previous research conductedinternationally on female STEM graduates’ employment outcomes shows that theyare still underrepresented in the STEM labor market, even holding relevantqualifications (Michelmore&Sassler, 2016). This happens because compared tomale students majoring in STEM, females are less likely to pursue careerscongruent to their majors and in contrast to their counterparts outside STEMspecializations, they are more likely to leave STEM careers (Glass et al.,2013; Xu, 2013) upon graduation. In literature, the low retention rate of STEMfemales in STEM careers is explained by a diverse set of factors – individual,organizational, and socio-structural.In Kazakhstan,scholarly investigation on females’ experiences in STEM fields is scarce. Theexisting research studies focus on either females’ interests and experiences inuniversity STEM majors (Almukhambetova&Kuzhabekova, 2020;Almukhambetova&Kuzhabekova, 2021; Almukhambetova et al., 2022)   or female academics’ employment experiences(Kuzhabekova&Almukhambetova, 2017; Kuzhabekova&Almukhambetova, 2021). This researchbuilds on these studies and aims to expand existing knowledge on females’experiences in STEM fields in Kazakhstan by investigating their employmentexperiences in the early-career stage (1-4 years after graduation). Inparticular, we seek to understand what factors affect females’ STEM persistenceafter graduation. The study was guided by the following research questions:1.    What are female STEM graduates’ labor market destinations and futurecareer plans?2.    What factors affect females’ STEM persistence after graduation? This studycontributes to the literature on female STEM graduates’ employment outcomes andpersistence. More specifically, it provides new insights by examining STEMfemales’ employment experiences, education-job congruence and persistence inthe early-career stage and across STEM subject areas. By focusing onKazakhstan, a Central Asian country, this study brings evidence from apreviously understudied national/regional context that enriches the currentinternational understanding of females’ work experiences in STEM fields. Inaddition, the findings of this study are believed to be beneficial forpolicy-makers in Kazakhstan and other countries seeking a return from STEMeducation policies to economic growth, as well as for employers in STEM fieldsto improve working conditions for females in the workplace.   Fundingdetails: the MES of RK, project number AP14869690ReferencesAkhmetbekov,A. (2020, February 4). Boleepolovinyvsekhkazahstanskihstudentovsostavlyayutdevushki[More than a half of all Kazakhstani students are girls]. Azattyq-ruhy.Retrieved from: https://rus.azattyq-ruhy.kz/society/4992-bolee-poloviny-vsekh-kazakhstanskikh-studentov-sostavliaiut-devushkiAlmukhambetova, A. &Kuzhabekova,A. (2020). Factors affecting the decision of female students to enrol inscience, technology, engineering and mathematics majors in Kazakhstan. InternationalJournal of Science Education, 42(6), 934-954.doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2020.1742948 Almukhambetova,A. &Kuzhabekova, A. (2021). Negotiating conflicting discourses. Femalestudents’ experiences in STEM majors in an international university in CentralAsia. InternationalJournal of Science Education, 43(4), 570-593.doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2021.1875150 Almukhambetova, A., Torrano,D., & Nam, A. (2023). Fixing the Leaky Pipelinefor in

STEM. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 21,305-324. doi.org/10.1007/s10763- 021-10239-1 Bilimdinews(2022, April 6). Goszakazbudetpereorientirovannatekhnicheskiespecial'nostiiuvelichenna45 tysyachmest – MON RK [State grants will be allocated to technical majors andgrow by 45 thousand grants – MES RK], Bilimdinews.Retrieved from: https://bilimdinews.kz/?p=195554&ysclid=lcty9swqm114873488Demessinova,A. (2020, July 23) Na kakiespecial'nostivydeliligranty v 2020 godu v Kazahstane[What majors are grants allocated to in Kazakhstan in 2020]. Kazpravda.Retrieved from: https://kazpravda.kz/n/na-kakie-spetsialnosti-vydelili-granty-v-2020-godu-v-kazahstane/?ysclid=lctxumltow234083889Glass,J., Sassler, S., Levitte, Y., &Michelmore, K. (2013). What’s so specialabout STEM? A comparison of women’s retention in STEM and professionaloccupations. Social Forces, 92(2), 723-756.doi.org/10.1093/sf/sot092 Kuzhabekova, A. &Almukhambetova,A. (2017). Female academic leadership in the post-Soviet context.European Educational Research Journal, 16(2-3),183-199.Kuzhabekova, A. &Almukhambetova,A. (2021). Women’s progression through the leadership pipeline in the universities of Kazakhstanand AJournal of Comparative and International Education, 51.doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2019.1599820 Michelmore,K. &Sassler, S. (2016). Explaining the gender wage gap in STEM: Does fieldsex composition matter? RSF: The Russell Sage of the Social Sciences, 2(4), 194-215. doi.org/10.7758/RSF.2016.2.4.07 Ummat,A. (2022). Tokayev: Molodyekazahidolzhnybyt' tekhnaryami [Tokayev: YoungKazakhs should be technical specialists]. Informburo, 21January. Retrieved from:https://informburo.kz/novosti/prezidentmolodye-kazaxi-dolzny-byt-texnaryami?ysclid=lctygmgqiy666648333White,P. & Smith, E. (2022). From subject choice to career path: Female STEMgraduates in the UK labour market. Oxford Review of Education, 48(6),693-709. doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2021.2011713 Xu,Y. (2013). Career outcomes of STEM and non-STEM college in majored-field and influential factorsin career inHigher Education, 54,

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