Empathy and Gender Inequity in Engineering Disciplines

Abstract

Based on analysis of published studies, we posit that the current owned identity of many engineering disciplines lacks empathy as a core element and that this may be a barrier to entry for women, especially in disciplines that are perceived as having little concern for the welfare of others. Moreover, as a consequence of this lack of empathy, the actual identity of engineering as embodied in faculty and academic programs may be in conflict with those human-centered values expressed by it's professional organizations. Therefore, to increase enrollment of women in engineering programs, a reformulation of the engineering identity to consciously incorporate empathy may be required. Our overall research efforts will be centered on first characterizing the empathetic aspects of this owned identity within some of the sub-disciplines of engineering, identifying the degree to which a perceived lack of empathy forms a barrier for women pursuing engineering as a field of study, and finally to formulate ways of transforming faculty and student attitudes in ways that will lead to the formation of an engineering identity that is more open to the concerns of women and more consistent with the values defined in the professional codes and creeds. This paper reports on our progress to date and our plans for future studies.

Action on Diversity: A Content Analysis of ASEE Conference Papers, 2015–2016

“…A smaller number of works concentrated on graduate students, industry, and other populations. Some work was directed at multiple organization status-such as Jacobs et al (2016), which included "a mix of ages ranging between high school students and professors in mid-career." Other work did not target an organizational status but instead the field of engineering education as a whole, such as Svyantek (2016), which asks the question "Where is disability expressed (at all) within engineering education itself?"…”

Improving Gender Equity in Engineering—Perspectives from Academia and Literature

“…Against women [5], [13], [15], [16] and women from historically underrepresented groups [6] Not specified 2 [17], [18] Related to research 1 Less work in commercialization, fewer publications, and women are concentrated in non-research-intensive universities [13] Changing careers 1 [13] Family sacrifices 1 [19] Receive fewer accolades 1 [12] The biggest disparity identified in the literature was the underrepresentation of women in faculty positions, specifically the lack of women in higher faculty ranks [3]- [9] and postdoctoral positions [7]. However, once women are in higher faculty ranks, they are not exempt from the disparities that women in lower ranks face [14].…”

“…• Stereotypes [4], [6], [7], [12] • Gender schemas [4], [10] • Cultural norms [3], sexism [17], stigma [9] Institutional issues 8…”

“…Women in engineering in academia are subject to all the aforementioned biases, and in these cases, bias awareness initiatives can be helpful to combat these issues [18]. For the sake of being precise, we have separated bias from other preconceived notions about women, which include stereotypes [4], [6], [7], [12], cultural norms [3], sexism [17], and stigma [9]. Gender schemas were mentioned in the literature, and the theory was first proposed by Bem in 1981 which says individuals tend to process information in terms of sex-linked associations.…”

The Role of Empathy in Choosing Majors

“…Some of the literature that supports this idea is reviewed below. A more detailed investigation of the literature on this subject has been given by Jacobs [1].…”