• gender disparity
• gender equality
• STEM education
• study choice
• women in STEM

With the rapid transformation of all countries in pursuing knowledge-based economy, the importance of science, mathematics, engineering and technology education start becoming the main interest of not only educationalists but also policy makers. One of the persistent concerns is the under-representation of women in these kinds of disciplines which are traditionally in favor of men. It has been a heated debate among public on whether the lack of female choices in STEM education is associated with a nation’s level of gender equality. Using data of 93 countries from 1999 to 2018 with a total of 903 observations, the thesis aims to see the influence of distinctive national contexts on the participation of female in STEM education with the strong focus on gender equality. The thesis tests the relationship between national characteristics and female presence in STEM higher education using pooled OLS model, fixed effect model and always control for time dummies. The results show the negative relationship between women presence in market role and female graduates in STEM education. Surprisingly, the engagement of women in political rights has no effect on the female choices in STEM education. Furthermore, different national characteristics also display divergent effects on the choices of women in pursuing STEM fields of study. The thesis provides an empirical support for the future intervention as well as current understanding of the gender disparity in STEM education.