Abstract
Despite the continuous efforts of governments and universities to avoid the underrepresentation of women entering engineering degrees, the trend has not reverted, and this is a general fact all over the world. This fact goes against the tendency of a growing ratio of women in tertiary education, so causes must be investigated. This research examines two main questions: Is it possible to break the invisible barriers that prevent girls from entering in engineering degrees by means of an engineering project or activity? And are there important misconceptions about the role of women in engineering professions and about engineering itself among high school girls? An extensive survey has been carried out between three groups of students: students of the last years of high school (834), students of the first year of engineering degrees (319), and students of the first year of sciences degrees (209). A set of visits to the high schools was developed and a contest of engineering projects was carried out too. The results show that there are important misconceptions in the knowledge that high school students have about engineering degrees and engineering. The visits and the project contest had a good impact that encouraged girls to take engineering activities in their curricula. The main finding is that even though girls see engineering professions as very well valued, they are convinced that engineering is not a profession for women, which suggests that there are educational barriers acquired during earlier stages of their lives.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bannikova, L. N., Baliasov, A. A., & Kemmet, E. V. (2018). Attraction and retention of women in engineering. In Proceedings of the 2018 international conference “quality management, transport and information security, information technologies”, IT and QM and IS 2018 (pp. 824–827). https://doi.org/10.1109/ITMQIS.2018.8525043.
Barta, K., & Brinkman, B. (2014). Engineering workshops for middle school girls (research to practice) strand: Principles of K-12 engineering education and practice. In ASEE annual conference and exposition, conference proceedings. New York: American Society for Engineering Education.
Bhatia, S., & Amati, J. P. (2010). “If these women can do it, I can do it, too”: Building women engineering leaders through graduate peer mentoring. Leadership and Management in Engineering, 10(4), 174–184.
Blosser, E. G. (2015). Constructions of gender in three campaigns to recruit women to engineering: Is outreach combatting or reinforcing gender inequality? In 122nd ASEE annual conference and exposition proceedings (pp. 1–14). https://doi.org/10.18260/p.23738.
Blosser, E. G. (2017). Gender segregation across engineering majors: How engineering professors understand women’s underrepresentation in undergraduate engineering. Engineering Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/19378629.2017.1311902.
Bossart, J. L., & Bharti, N. (2018). Ten ways academic libraries can help their departments increase retention of women engineering students. In 2018 ASEE annual conference and exposition (p. 7). Retrieved from https://peer.asee.org/board-93-ten-ways-academic-libraries-can-help-their-departments-increase-retention-of-women-engineering-students.
Brandt, R. (2015). Why do undergraduate women persist as STEM majors? A study at two technological universities. In ASEE annual conference and exposition, conference proceedings (Vol. 122nd ASEE, pp. 1–175). https://doi.org/10.18260/p.25073.
Bruning, M. J., Bystydzienski, J., & Eisenhart, M. (2015). Intersectionality as a framework for understanding diverse young women’s commitment to engineering. Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, 21(1), 26p.
Diekman, A. B., Brown, E. R., Johnston, A. M., & Clark, E. K. (2010). Seeking congruity between goals and roles: A new look at why women opt out of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers. Psychological Science, 21(8), 1051–1057. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797610377342.
Diekman, A. B., Weisgram, E. S., & Belanger, A. L. (2015). New routes to recruiting and retaining women in STEM: Policy implications of a communal goal congruity perspective. Social Issues and Policy Review. https://doi.org/10.1111/sipr.12010.
European Parliament. (2015). On women’s careers in science and universities, and glass ceilings encountered (2014/2251(INI)) (Vol. 0005).
Eurostat. (2016). R&D personnel—Statistics explained. Data extracted in October 2016. Retrieved February 1, 2017, from http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/R_%26_D_personnel#Human_resources_in_science_and_technology.
Eurostat Press Office. (2015). Europe 2020 education indicators in 2014. The EU is moving closer to its Europe 2020 goals on education. Retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/6787423/3-20042015-BP-EN.pdf/b2f295ba-2e15-409c-bec9-91c4e49c5d32.
Eurostat Press Office. (2016). Vocational education. Almost half of upper secondary pupils in the EU enrolled in vocational education. Most of them are men.
Ferrando, F., Paleo, P., De la Flor, S., Urbina, C., & Gutiérrez-Colon, M. (2012). Estudio sobre la baja presencia de mujeres en los estudios de ingeniería mecánica. In XIX Congreso Nacional de Ingeniería Mecánica (pp. 1–7).
Hosaka, M. (2014). Women’s experiences in the engineering laboratory in Japan. European Journal of Engineering Education, 39(4), 424–431. https://doi.org/10.1080/03043797.2014.883363.
Hunt, J. (2010). Why do women leave science and engineering? National Bureau of Economic Research. Paper no. 15853. Cambridge, MA. https://doi.org/10.3386/w15853.
Hunt, J. (2016). Why do women leave science and engineering? ILR Review, 69(1), 199–226. https://doi.org/10.1177/0019793915594597.
Inda, M., Rodríguez, C., & Peña, J. V. (2013). Gender differences in applying social cognitive career theory in engineering students. Journal of Vocational Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2013.06.010.
Martínez, I., Pindado, R., & Vicente, J. (2010). Las mujeres y los estudios técnicos. In Congreso Universitario de Innovación Educativa en las Enseñanzas Técnicas (pp. 1–51).
OECD. (2012). What kinds of careers do boys and girls expect for themselves? PISA in focus (Vol. 14). Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1787/5k9d417g2933-en.
OECD. (2017). Education at a Glance 2017: OECD indicators. Paris: OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/eag-2017-en.
Powell, A., Dainty, A., & Bagilhole, B. (2012). Gender stereotypes among women engineering and technology students in the UK: Lessons from career choice narratives. European Journal of Engineering Education, 38(6), 541–556. https://doi.org/10.1080/03043797.2013.864156.
Sikora, J., & Pokropek, A. (2011). Gendered career expectations of students: Perspectives from PISA 2006. OECD education working paper no. 57. OECD. https://doi.org/10.1787/5kghw6891gms-en.
Stout, J. G., Grunberg, V. A., & Ito, T. A. (2016). Gender roles and stereotypes about science careers help explain women and men’s science pursuits. Sex Roles, 75(9–10), 490–499. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-016-0647-5.
Tarnai-Lokhorst, K. V. (2015). Where are the women? Perceived barriers to engineering education: A review of feminist influences on curriculum in British Columbia that contribute to the persisting and evolving barriers to women’s entry into engineering education. In 122nd ASEE annual conference and exposition, conference proceedings (pp. 1–15). https://doi.org/10.18260/p.25070.
US Department of Labor. (2016). Women in architecture and engineering occupations in 2016 : The economics daily: US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved January 21, 2019, from https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2017/women-in-architecture-and-engineering-occupations-in-2016.htm?view_full.
Acknowledgements
Funding was provided by Universidad de Córdoba (Grant No. 2017-3-5001).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Salas-Morera, L., Ruiz-Bustos, R., Cejas-Molina, M.A. et al. Understanding why women don’t choose engineering degrees. Int J Technol Des Educ 31, 325–338 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10798-019-09550-4
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10798-019-09550-4