Gender Complexity and Experience of Women Undergraduate Students within the Engineering Domain

Abstract

Despite continuous efforts for reducing gender inequality in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM), engineering still steadfastly remains one of the least equitable fields in Australian universities. There has been an increasing growth of international scholarship on women’s underrepresentation in engineering; nevertheless, research on understanding contributing factors to the Australian women students’ participation in engineering is relatively underdeveloped. To address this knowledge gap, we examine the experience of women undergraduate students and explore influential factors that contribute to the complexity of pursuing engineering. Applying a qualitative approach, we conducted 16 interviews with women undergraduate students enrolled across five engineering courses at Macquarie University, Australia. The results of the thematic analysis indicate that women students often have a supporting network of relationships and view themselves as intellectually fit to study engineering. However, they have been facing several interrelated obstacles that negatively impact their experiences and persistence in engineering. Findings show that gendered perceptions around femininity and masculinity appear to be the origin of gender stereotypes surrounding engineering identity. These not only negatively impact women students’ experiences within the bound of university but also create systemic barriers in the future workplace environment and opportunities. These (mis)perceptions have actively and passively made women students feel out of place, doubt their abilities and feel alienated. We offer suggestions to shift engineering identity outside the dominant masculine construct towards ‘co-construct’ and ‘co-enact’. This will create windows of opportunities to move towards gender equality in engineering.

Engineering Emotion Sustainably: Affective Gendered Organizing of Engineering Identities and Third Space

“…Shelly's whispered remarks and laughter drew out the boundaries of and tensions in (il)legitimized memberships in engineering [27,43]. Every woman described discursive and embodied experiences that reinforced women-do-not-belong-in-engineering, that "actively or passively made them feel out of place, doubt their abilities and be alienated" [44] (p. 7).…”

“…In relaying evidence of competence, women engineers reported early and sustained senses of joy, belongingness, affirmation, and feelings of normalcy, accomplishment, and talent not only from family members' comments rooted in childhood but also from their abilities to do the material labor of engineering. Their stories depicted supportive networks and engineering self-efficacy development that were essential for women's entry into and continuation of engineering majors and careers [26,28,44]. Of interest is that none of the men mentioned poignant memories of these types despite being asked the same interview questions as women participants.…”

Exploring the Gender Gap: Motivation, Procrastination, Environment, and Academic Performance in an Introductory Physics Course in a Human-Centered Private University in Northeast Mexico—A Case Study

“…Efforts are being made in various parts of the world to reduce the gender gap [3]. Studying and understanding potential causes, such as perceiving engineering as an area dominated by men [4], parents' education or students' aptitude for mathematics and science [5], Mathematics Anxiety and Self-Efficacy in developing countries [6], among others, could help generate and concentrate programs and strategies that lower the gender gap. However, identifying all the factors and which are the most relevant is not trivial.…”