New analysis suggests women's success in STEM Ph.D. programs has much to do with having female peers

Having female peers -- even just a few of them -- can increase a woman’s odds of making it through her Ph.D. program in the natural sciences, technology, engineering or math, says a new working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research. Based on a sample of gradate students enrolled in STEM programs at public institutions in Ohio, women in Ph.D. cohorts with no female peers were about 12 percentage points less likely than their male peers to earn a doctorate within six...