The purpose of this qualitative interview-based study is to explore the experiences of female higher education students currently enrolled in math-intensive STEM majors in universities in Kazakhstan and identify the factors that determine their retention and success in STEM education. In this study, focusing on female students’ experiences in math-intensive STEM university majors and utilizing Tinto’s Theory of Students’ Integration as an organizational and imperative framework, we seek to understand which set of factors determine female students’ retention in STEM educational trajectories in a traditional non-Western society by providing an answer to the following research questions:

1. What is the role of individual-level factors in shaping women students’ experiences and retention in math-intensive STEM fields in Kazakhstan?
2. What is the role of institutional factors in shaping women students’ experiences and retention in math-intensive STEM fields in Kazakhstan?
3. What is the role of socio-cultural factors in shaping women students’ experiences and retention in math-intensive STEM fields in Kazakhstan? 

This study is part of a larger project aiming at understanding the experiences of female higher education students pursuing education in STEM university majors in Kazakhstan. The project pursued several aims and asked several sets of questions to explore the female students’ experiences at various stages (choosing the major, during their study in STEM university majors, the transition from university to first jobs). To answer the research questions posed in this study, we employed an exploratory qualitative research design, which is especially useful for understanding the relation of the context to the research problem (Creswell, 1998; Lincoln & Guba, 1985). The central phenomenon of this study is the experiences, factors, and influences that shape female students’ retention in STEM university majors in Kazakhstan.

The findings from the study highlight the influence of socio-cultural and contextual factors on girls’ retention in STEM education. The main conclusion of our study is that in traditional societies like Kazakhstan, socio-cultural factors can play a major role, and women pursuing education and careers in STEM might face more challenges confronting these stereotypes. The findings of this study have direct implications for school and higher education administrators and faculty working with female students internationally. As the study shows, the practices of benevolent discrimination and gendered attitudes still exist in educational and occupational environments and should be taken into consideration while implementing policies to improve gender equality in STEM. University administrators can change “the chilly” climates by organizing workshops for STEM faculty members in using gender-responsive instructional strategies and developing more inclusive attitudes to retain female students in STEM majors.

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