DigitalVision/ThinkstockBy DR. JENNIFER ASHTON, ABC News Senior Medical Contributor

Women remain underrepresented in high-paying, math-intensive fields and they earn only 19 percent of bachelor’s degrees in engineering.

Now, a new study directs blame at biases among teachers and the educational system. This is against girls in the so-called STEM subjects: science, technology, engineering and math.

Previous research has shown that a gender gap develops in favor of males during the first four years of school and it develops first amongst the highest-achieving students. One way to combat this is to expose girls to positive role models in these STEM subjects.

Teachers also need to reexamine their own ideas of what the typical STEM student looks like. It should conjure an image of a girl or a boy.

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