Influencia de la sacarina en la calidad del ZnNi.

Shin and Lee (2017:4) define the sexist theory as ‘prejudice or discriminatory attitudes or behaviours that promote stereotypes of socially constructed roles based on sex’. This is also supported by Gutsell and Remedios (2016:28) that sexism originates from the belief in traditional gender roles that separate the responsibilities of men and women in the family. However, these authors state that men who do not believe in the sexist theory do not expect their female partners to take most of the responsibility on care-giving but also feel accountable to ensure that future family responsibilities are

shared. Such men also want to take part in planning how their children will be raised. Therefore, ‘balancing the act’ as mentioned above should not be a women’s plan alone but of her partner as well. This implies that women should carefully consider their career choices without being influenced by their family planning as if this is an obstacle to their bright future.

One of the greatest barriers for women to be leaders, as highlighted in the report produced by the World Economic Forum, in 2012, i.e. the Corporate Gender Gap, was a lack of role models. The Silicon Republic then established the Women Invent Tomorrow, in trying to resolve that. It is an annual year initiative that highlights the importance of closing the gender gap in the science and technology-based industries and prides itself by inspiring women to be role models in the STEM fields. This initiative encourages schoolgirls to take career opportunities in the STEM sector which are said to be broad although many people are not aware of them. In other cases, girls are clouded by outdated or incorrect perceptions to avoid careers in this area (ACTO, 2014:i). This research managed to identify STEM role models, mostly within but also outside the country that would serve as motivation for young women to choose such fields as future careers.

A case presenting such outdated perceptions, as reported by Gutsell and Remedios (2016:28), was about a woman who was requesting a recommendation letter from one of them. When asked about her career plans, she responded as follows, ‘My father was a doctor and I wanted to be one too. But I also want children, so I'll probably choose a less demanding field’. What she was actually implying was that her father managed to be a doctor because even if he had children, he was a man. As a result, she could not choose the same demanding career if she wanted to bear children since she was a woman. This report illustrates how the intention to have children in the future impacts on young women's decisions to pursue ‘family-friendly’ careers in the present. It also suggests that working in the STEM fields is a lot of work that is not suitable for women who intend to have children in future.

Perceptions such as the one above result in a tendency by women to choose the ‘lower-level’, ‘soft disciplines’ and short-term tertiary education in big numbers, although their numbers are generally higher than those of men who are registered at

universities globally. This was shown in the UNDP’s Human Development Index report, which tallies with the one written by Gutsell and Remedios (2016:28) that female- dominated occupations tend to be lower paying, less time-consuming and more flexible than male-dominated occupations. This could be a deliberate choice made by women because they expect to be the primary caretakers of children in future, and as a result obstruct the development of their careers.

On the effect of the sexist theory on career development, a research finding by Shin and Lee (2017:3) indicated that female college students were reported to have stronger self-efficacy when performing traditionally women-dominant occupations. Self-efficacy beliefs were also significantly related to sex differences in the fields of STEM that women were reported to have lower levels of self-efficacy in such fields as compared to men. Self-efficacy is explained as a person’s belief in his/her ability to be successful in performing a behaviour that influences the decision, whether to engage in that behaviour and how much effort should be exerted. Career decision self-efficacy is defined as ‘individual’s confidence of engaging in tasks associated with making career choice and committing a career successfully’ (Shin & Lee, 2017:2). In agreement, Jakes (2013:6–7) reports that gender equity in the workplace can result in the improvement of self-esteem of individuals. Equitable salaries and increased opportunities for men and women who are doing the same type of work will indeed encourage women to join the STEM fields in numbers.

As a result of the above, gender equity has been embraced in the outcome of this study, where sectors are encouraged to distribute resources, especially bursaries in the STEM fields, equitably, according to the demographics of men and women in those fields. The gender-responsive budgeting that had been integrated in the awareness programme developed in chapter six, will enable the STEM fields to move faster towards gender equality if planning and implementation take place as recommended. This includes no discrimination in the treatment of young women and young men.