Fostering womens to choose stem career by using emotional intelligence as key element

Abstract

Emotional intelligence has become more and more important in our society, being part of the competencies of the 21st century, regardless of the field in which the professional career exists. Especially in the STEM field, which is deeply marked by the small number of women represented, this could be the key to motivating girls to increase their motivation to choose the STEM field. This article presents the gender gap in terms of emotional intelligence and its expressiveness in order to create the premises to encourage girls to become leaders in the field, based on their ability to empathize (better than boys). STEM girls have an emotional intelligence superior to boys and there is a difference between girls and boys in terms of perceiving and expressing emotions. Thus, girls studied in STEM domain tend to be affirmative expressing their feelings directly, naturally, they are sociable, socially balanced, sometimes they can have exaggerated emotional reactions to a situation. Despite this, test results have shown that boys, unlike girls, have the ability to perceive and use emotions within the relationships they establish, much higher. STEM girls have an empathic ability superior to boys. This indicates that girls, unlike boys, are able to listen to others look from the perspective of others, to put their feelings in tune with others, they have altruistic behaviors that give them a dose of generosity that is sometimes lacking in boys.

Keywords

• emotional intelligence
• female stem career
• self-regulation