“They’re not leaving because they’re unsuccessful,” she added. “The research we looked at and that we talk about in the report says the climate of some of these college departments don’t facilitate women’s participation and progress. … They leave because they feel unwelcome or they just haven’t fit in.”

The culture of a department— the expectations, assumptions and values — shapes how professors and staff behave, which impacts students directly. The literature showed female undergraduates in STEM majors often reported lower confidence than their male counterparts for a variety of reasons, including professors being overly critical and at times not supportive, and male students being antagonistic. The female students described a sense of feeling like they didn't belong or fit in. Also, some research examined touched on issues of women being perceived as not likeable if they pursued non-traditional fields. That was of concern to some female undergraduates in STEM majors.

Recommendations in the report include doing outreach to high schools and encouraging girls to pursue STEM fields if they have an interest. Academic departments should put forth an inclusive, gender-neutral message about who would be a good computer science student, address peer culture and broaden the scope of early coursework. The final recommendation is applicable to both women and minority males, who seem more drawn to multidisciplinary and broader applications.

One piece of literature praised in the AAUW report focused on how HBCUs successfully create effective and supportive department cultures in the STEM fields. The Bayer study notes that among the top-three reasons women and minorities are under-represented is lack of quality science and math education programs in middle and high school because of economic conditions. HBCUs provide a path with courses and other tools for those who have an interest but may not have entered college prepared to pursue such a major.