Cheriyan et. al performed a meta-analysis of over 300 articles to investigate the gender disparity in STEM enrollment. Rather than treating college-level STEM courses as a homogenous whole, Cheriyan et. al investigated differences between individual STEM fields, using a sociocultural perspective. Three key factors that, when combined, contributed to the gender disparity:

• Masculine culture in a field: a social and structural environment that confers a greater sense of belonging and ability to succeed to men than women.
• Lack of early STEM experience: the lack of courses offered or exposure to field in pre-college education.
• Gender gaps in self-efficacy: female students' impression that they are "less competent" than their male counterparts, despite performance metrics that would indicate otherwise.