for example on average across oecd countries of year old boys are likely to aspire a career as a scientist architect or engineer while only of girls do the same oecd similarly a career in information and communication technology ict is an aspiration for some of boys and less than of girls furthermore parents expectations on stem related careers tend also to differ significantly by gender oecd i there is some evidence that this gap have declined recently ernst young ey still overall the participation of women in stem is significantly higher than the participation in venture capital financed entrepreneurship regarding debt financing female entrepreneurs face more limited access to credit and even if they receive funding they are confronted with higher interest rates bellucci borisov and zazzaro alesina lotti and mistrulli