  The substantial gender gap in the science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics (STEM) workforce can be traced back to the underrepresentation of
women at various milestones in the career pathway. Calculus is a necessary step
in this pathway and has been shown to often dissuade people from pursuing STEM
fields. We examine the characteristics of students who begin college interested
in STEM and either persist or switch out of the calculus sequence after taking
Calculus I, and hence either continue to pursue a STEM major or are dissuaded
from STEM disciplines. The data come from a unique, national survey focused on
mainstream college calculus. Our analyses show that, while controlling for
academic preparedness, career intentions, and instruction, the odds of a woman
being dissuaded from continuing in calculus is 1.5 times greater than that for
a man. Furthermore, women report they do not understand the course material
well enough to continue significantly more often than men. When comparing women
and men with above-average mathematical abilities and preparedness, we find
women start and end the term with significantly lower mathematical confidence
than men. This suggests a lack of mathematical confidence, rather than a lack
of mathematically ability, may be responsible for the high departure rate of
women. While it would be ideal to increase interest and participation of women
in STEM at all stages of their careers, our findings indicate that simply
increasing the retention of women starting in college calculus would almost
double the number of women entering the STEM workforce.
