"In Japan, the percentage of female students who elect to major in STEM (an acronym standing for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) subjects when entering higher education is among the lowest of all OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) nations. In this article, in order to elucidate the factors that make girls less likely to select STEM courses, we use data from academic research on elementary and junior high school students to gain a chronological picture of gender disparities in academic performance and motivation in STEM subjects, and examine the interaction effects of gender, socioeconomic status, and achievement-oriented values that help to define students' levels of motivation. As early as elementary school, the gender order of “girls preferring humanities, boys preferring sciences” is increasingly reflected in girls' levels of performance and motivation in math. Also, the correlation between socioeconomic status and academic motivation becomes evident earlier among girls than among boys, and by the third year of junior high school (age 14?15), achievement-oriented values emerge as a factor that strongly defines motivation in math. The above observations suggest that when women do choose an academic focus in the sciences, aspects other than academic performance and motivation strongly underpin their decisions. "

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