51% of the United States is made up of women, but only 34.4% of doctors are women. While 90.4% of nurses are women (“Women in Medicine”; “Male Nurses Becoming”), women who become doctors earn an astonishing 25% less than their male counterparts (Groves). These staggering figures are just part of the larger overall lack of women in STEM disciplines – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – that has remained prevalent since these fields' inception. While women are underrepresented in these STEM fields, this is not due to ineptitude, but is instead the result of the strength of social stereotypes coupled with their broader range of abilities. The recent increase in women's association with STEM disciplines seems promising, however, it is not actually due to decreasing cultural stereotypes. The lack of women in STEM fields, while evident, is not due to incompetence as some suggest. Previous scientific studies that “prove” the intellectual superiority of men are based on faulty scientific data (Gould). Gould's examination of previous scientific studies on the topic in “Women's Brains” truly demonstrates how the stereotype of unintelligent women in STEM fields propagated through early false scientific conclusions. In fact, numerous studies, particularly one conducted by James Flynn, an IQ testing expert, show that women score as well or higher than men on IQ tests around the world (Gann). This study effectively abandons the myth of any intellectual inequality between the sexes by demonstrating that the sexes are truly equal in intelligence. These studies, along with myriad others, essentially test for equivalence between men and women. Although women have the same intelligence... halfway through the article... definitely positive, it is not a sign of decreasing stereotypes. The idea that nurses are predominantly female is widely accepted. She conforms to the stereotype of caring, motherly women, while also adhering to the idea that women are not natural leaders because nurses work under the guidance of doctors, who are mostly men. As part of a larger problem, the nurse stereotype exemplifies the lack of women in STEM careers. This lack is caused by women's greater completeness and strong cultural stereotypes, not by inability. While there has been encouraging progress by women in technical fields, it is not really due to the breaking down of stereotypes. To achieve true equality, women should be encouraged to join STEM fields, not limited by unjustified biases. Only when gender stereotypes are eliminated will women be able to legitimately close the gender gap in STEM disciplines.