Introduction

Engineering practice today is increasingly complex. To effectively address engineering challenges, it has become essential to consider a wide array of factors such as economic competition, cultural implications, sustainability, environmental impact and societal factors. As a result, the field of engineering must adopt and diversify to tackle these complex issues. In addition to the traditional engineering knowledge and skills, engineering practice requires the incorporation of collaboration, creativity, analytical thinking, knowledge sharing, and interdisciplinary approaches (Dresden et al., 2017). Emphasizing diversity is crucial for engineering profession. Non-diverse professions miss out on valuable contributions insights and innovative problem solving approaches that a diverse workforce can offer and new ways of approaching problems that a varied workforce brings (Benavent et al., 2020; Hutton, 2019; Perry & Bussey, 1979). Having a highly skilled and diverse workforce in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) related fields is very important for a country’s economic growth and development (Hutton, 2019; Oyserman et al., 2002). Diversity is reported by Ahmed et al. (2019), Weber (2012), Hutton (Hutton, 2019) and Benavent et al.(Benavent et al., 2020) as a desirable characteristic for the engineering profession, with gender balance playing a significant role in achieving this diversity. In this context, it is crucial to actively encourage females to pursue engineering disciplines. Promoting gender balance in all engineering disciplines is key in facilitating diverse and creative thinking, ultimately leading to more robust and innovative engineering solutions. Engineering disciplines need people with a variety of characteristics and dispositions including those qualities that are typically associated with females. These qualities include community focus, communication skills and empathy.

There is a recognised lack of female participation in most engineering disciplines and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) related careers in many developed countries around the world (Benavent et al., 2020; Botella et al., 2019; Chen et al., 2023; Strachan, 2018) and those females who do enter engineering, tend to move into disciples that are publicly perceived as being socially and environmentally aware such as environmental and biomedical engineering (Dresden et al., 2017).

The research presented in this article explores aspects of this phenomena by identifying the influences and barriers for girls considering and undertaking engineering. This article draws on data from three research projects across tertiary institutions in New Zealand: one institutes of technology and two universities. All studies used qualitative research methods. The first investigated future teachers of children aged 11–13 years perceptions of engineering and engineers. The second investigated the impacts and influences that led domestic and international female engineering students enrolling in the Diploma of Engineering, Bachelor of Engineering Technology, and Graduate Diploma programme in Civil Engineering at a polytechnic institute. The third study investigated the impacts and influences that led Years 12 and 13 students to enrol in a trades engineering related course. All three studies used interviews (focus and individual) to assist in understanding a range of factors influencing female students’ career decisions related to engineering and understanding future teachers’ beliefs and understandings about engineering.

Literature

Gender continues to be a predictor of occupation (Sinclair et al., 2019). The engineering workforce needs men and women with a variety of characteristics, qualities, and ways of thinking to encourage and facilitate diverse and creative thinking and solutions. However, engineering, and other STEM related professions still lack diversity (Denis & Heap, 2019; Kent et al., 2019). Non-diverse professions miss out on valuable contributions and new ways of approaching problems that a varied workforce brings (Schäfer, 2006). A highly skilled and diverse workforce in STEM related fields is critical for a country’s economic growth and development (Chen et al., 2023; Saucerman & Vasquez, 2014). Diversity is reported by Ahmed et al. (2019) and Weber (2012) among others as a desirable characteristic for the engineering profession and gender balance increases diversity. Engineering disciplines need people with a variety of characteristics and dispositions including those qualities that are typically associated with females (Ahmed et al., 2019; Chen et al., 2023). These qualities include community focus, communication skills, teamwork skills, ethics and empathy and are indispensable to sustainable development and promoting cultural change in engineering (Alalouch, 2021). Currently females who do enter engineering, tend to move into disciples that are publicly perceived as being socially and environmentally aware such as environmental and biomedical engineering. Females need to be encouraged into all engineering disciplines to facilitate further diverse and creative thinking.

Exploring why women either select or avoid engineering and understanding factors that influence their career decision-making has the potential to offer insight into understanding and possibly redressing this imbalance. In an attempt to give insight into the interrelationships between gender and student academic performance in engineering design education, Alalouch (2021) found no difference in academic ability between female and male engineering students, but did identify that female students were more aware of their preferred cognitive style and performed better when their learning activity matched their cognitive style. Lamb et al. (2017) suggest the factors that influence women’s career choices in STEM fields include stereotypical thinking and behaviours, socio-cultural environment, perception of self and attitude, teacher’s influence on career selection and curriculum relevance. Enrolment numbers of women in engineering at tertiary level in the developing world are considerably higher than the developed world (Kmec et al., 2019). Kmec et al. (2019) identified a possible reason for this; that affluence allowed people in developed countries to ‘follow their passions’ when selecting a career, with confidence in a strong quality of life. This in turn leads to decision making influenced by stereotypes. In developing countries such as Eastern European, Islamic, and Asian countries where affluence cannot be guaranteed, the number of females in engineering disciplines is more proximal to that of males. In these countries each individual is more likely to pursue the most affluent career possible, as this may ultimately make significant differences to their quality of life (Charles, 2011).

This suggests that male dominance in engineering disciplines is related to cultural- attitudes, values, and economic factors rather than innate ability (Cadaret et al., 2017; Sinclair et al., 2019). Cultural influence is further illustrated in Tunisia and Iran where students do not necessarily choose their own profession, but are enrolled in university courses according to their examination grades for entrance to university (Huyer, 2015; Saucerman & Vasquez, 2014), where assessment practices are summative and limited in nature. This ultimately encourages diversity by policy, but at a cost of personal liberty and favours those from high socio-economic status. Also, in many Muslim countries, female engineers are part of the cultural norm. Parental beliefs and values influence girls’ attitudes and self-efficacy about engineering and can develop at an early age. This is illustrated in an Arabic lullaby from a popular 1950s TV show in which mothers sung the following words to their baby girls. The lyrics envision a future in which the little girl starts school and earns excellent grades: “and I will say ‘My girl has grown up, she will be an engineer’/ Oh people, oh people! I love her!/ She’s her mother’s lovely girl” (http://womeninengineeringpmcs.org/tunisia, downloaded 21 October 2021). Kmec et al. (2019) situated their research in the US and Malaysia and revealed a difference in how engineering is gendered across locations in the world. For example, they identified that in the U.S. engineering is male-dominated and was thought of as being incompatible between a woman’s personal and professional identity. Conversely in Malaysian women’s identify, incompatibility exists between family life and engineering but not between being a woman and being an engineer. Adya and Kaiser (2005) also identified the cultural influence in girls’ career selection. They indicate a number of influencing factors related to career choice, all clearly situated within students’ ethnic culture as seen in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1
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Factors influencing girl’s career choices (Adya & Kaiser, 2005)

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Cultural influence related to entry into engineering is further supported by Docherty et al. (2018) who carried out research looking at the numbers of female students enrolled in engineering at a New Zealand university between the years of 2005 and 2017. They found a trend towards female students from single sex schools having greater representation in engineering compared to female students from co-educational schools. Academically, girls in co-educational schools were no different to girls in single sex schools leading to the understanding that something else must be impacting girls’ decision making in relation to career choices which possibly is the culture or stereotypical influences in co-educational schools.

As Fig. 1 suggests, stereotypical views also influence thinking and actions (Levine et al., 2010). Parents shape the future of their children from an early age through interactions. As they grow and mature, children develop their own identity based on the underlying values gained from parents. Levine et al. (2010), found that parents’ early childhood mathematical conversations had a significant impact in developing children’s understanding about mathematics concepts. However, parental interactions and expectations can be very different with boys compared to girls (Botella et al., 2019; Shirefley et al., 2020; Tenenbaum & Leaper, 2003). American- European parents unconsciously provided more scientific and mathematical explanations to their boys than their girls (Shirefley et al., 2020). Chhin et al. (2008) found that mothers’ gender related expectations and beliefs for their adolescent children also had a large impact on their children’s career choice in young adulthood.

Stereotypical views about science related careers as being masculine was evident in primary school students. Young boys even at the age of seven, have a perception that they are better than girls in maths, while girls believe in their own mathematical capabilities, and they think they are as good as boys. Around the age of 10, girls’ belief in their mathematical abilities start to fade away and they start thinking boys are better than them, even though their actual performance remains equal (Vainionpää et al., 2019). This stereotypical belief continues for girls into their adolescence while adolescent boys in their explicit statements express that girls are as good as them in maths (Saucerman & Vasquez, 2014). However, boys’ change of beliefs can be a result of social norms and what is accepted rather than a real change in their opinions. Research shows that due to social awareness about equality, people may explicitly believe in gender equal abilities in maths while unconsciously believe that boys are superior and these beliefs affect girls’ performance in maths (Devine, 1989, Saucerman & Vasquez, 2014).

Socio-cultural theory states than human development is related to the ways of doing things within the communities in which people are raised. Understanding how individuals learn and develop the sociocultural world is necessary to understand that meaning is more than a construction by individuals. As children grow, they gradually come to know and understand the world through participation in their own activities, in communication with others and through everyday participation in society (Rogoff, 1990; Rogoff et al., 2001). Based on this premise, the environment within which girls are raised heavily impacts on their image of future-self. Mozahem et al. (2019) found that women’s environment including family, friends, cultural practices, and financial considerations act strongly to influence their career decisions. It is therefore easy to see how stereotypical beliefs and views are perpetuated across generations, however if they have a strong “inner environment” with supportive parents and close friends, they are more likely to choose and persist in their career choices that are outside the norm, such as engineering. Girl’s awareness about the discrimination that is happening to women in fields of science, their beliefs in equality and their exposure to feminism, motivates them in science and maths and helps them to appreciate and value science more. Thus, it is important that girls form an understanding about the discrimination that is happening to women in STEM related fields (Heilbronner, 2009; Leaper et al., 2012; Weisgram & Bigler, 2007). Changing stereotypical beliefs should occur in early childhood before children shape firm understanding about gender (Bigler & Patterson, 2007).

Bandura (1977) states that self-efficacy forms from interpretation of information through four sources: mastery experiences or performance outcomes, vicarious experiences such as social role models, social persuasion, and emotional and physiological influences. Self-efficacy is defined as people’s judgement about their own capabilities to perform. People are more likely to engage in tasks that they think they can accomplish well and less likely to perform the tasks in which they feel less capable and competent (Bandura et al., 2001). The self-image of children aged 11–13 years leads to critical decisions about the broad sector of their future careers (Jones et al., 2011; Lamb et al., 2017; Low et al., 2005; Sinclair et al., 2019), which is based on self-perception especially related to ability in maths and science (Ahmed et al., 2019; Godwin et al., 2016; Weber, 2012). In addition, observation of others’ successes and failures, assists the shaping of perceptions about one’s own abilities. When observing someone undertaking a task in which people have had little experience, they tend to model the observed person when in similar situations. People’s physical and emotional responses to tasks, such as anxiety, can also significantly alter beliefs about their capabilities. Zeldin et al. (2008) also identified that mastery experiences was the most significant source of self-efficacy development. However, a different study by Zeldin and Pajares (2000) concluded that women shape their self-efficacy primarily from their vicarious experiences and the social and verbal persuasions they receive from others. Bandura (1977) suggested that it is easier to keep a sense of self-efficacy, especially during challenging times, if significant others express their belief in one’s abilities. Zeldin and Pajares (2000) provided evidence that the persuasion of others was a very important influencing factor for women who selected and continued with careers in STEM. Self-efficacy is therefore a critical factor in career selection.

Teachers ultimately have a high level of influence on their students career selection in three main ways: their attitudes and messages they give students about different careers, impact they have on students’ self-perception, self-image and self-efficacy and in their course design and pedagogy (Table 1) (Banks & Mayes, 2001; Hill & Thrupp, 2019; Jeanpierre et al., 2005; Weber, 2012). Teachers can unconsciously communicate their own beliefs and attitudes especially in STEM subjects to their students (Lavy & Sand, 2015). Adya and Kaiser (2005) found higher maths anxiety in female teachers correlated with lower scores in maths for their female students leading to female students’ beliefs in the traditional gender abilities that boys are better than girls. The same pattern was not seen in male students. They also found that the more girls believed in these gender-type abilities, the lower their maths scores were at the end of the school year. Perry and Bussey (1979) showed that young children model the behaviours of their same-sex adults thus explaining why female students are most negatively influenced by their female teacher with maths anxiety. Teacher’s perception that males are better at STEM subjects is passed on to their students subconsciously. These implicit beliefs and attitudes strongly impact how teachers interact with their female and male students. Dickhauser and Meyer (2006) showed that on average teachers of 8–12 years old believed that boys were better at maths than girls, despite performances being almost equal. Additionally, teachers often relate the mathematical success of girls to high efforts whereas for boys, they relate it to their high ability, assuming that boys have higher logical thinking abilities. Teachers’ negative evaluation about girls’ abilities in maths can even overrule their actual good performance and become their beliefs.

Table 1 Teachers Influences on Female Career Selection in Engineering Related Careers
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Koppel et al. (2002) suggest that career influence may come from the way teachers talk about different professions. Positive teacher attitudes, emphasising the importance and usefulness of engineering and science can cause positive change in the likelihood of selecting a career in STEM related fields by their students. When teachers emphasise on the social and cultural impacts of engineering products and processes and community improvements, they foster a connection with their female students and the likelihood of them selecting STEM related careers increases (Mitts & Haynie III, 2010; Weber & Custer, 2005). It is imperative that girls recognize that engineers do have a positive impact on the world and its inhabitants. To do this, teachers need to be knowledgeable and informed about engineering.

Methodology

Research paradigms of Social Constructionism- a subset of Vygotsky’s (1978) socio-cultural theory and Feminist Social Research, informed the theoretical framework of these studies as they aimed to understand and interpret human experience based on the premise that men and women should have equal opportunities and that they are equal but different (Cohen et al., 2011; Neuman, 2011). Table 2 provides the summary of research projects. Study 1 was situated within Social Constructionism, while studies 2 & 3 drew equally from both paradigms.

A constructionist epistemological stance, defined the understanding that individuals construct meaning through their experiences, the tools they use and the networks of people they engage with thus constructing knowledge through interactions with others within a socio-cultural environment (Crotty, 1998). Feminist Social Research, a branch of Liberal Feminism, builds on Interpretive Social Science and is undertaken predominately by women with a feminist self-identity. The liberal feminist theoretical perspective underpinning this research is that gender and sex should not curtail potential for self-development (Zavarzadeh & Morton, 1991). All three studies aimed to give voice to women.

Qualitative methodology was deployed in all three studies because it enabled detailed narrative of individual experiences (Neuman, 2011) engaging insight in the participants experiences. Purposeful sampling was used in all three studies to identify suitable participants (Neuman, 2011). The main methods used in the study were individual semi structured interviews and semi-structured focus groups. These methods enabled the identification and exploration of the understandings of future teachers about engineering and factors influencing participants’ career decisions related to engineers and engineering. Ethical consent was gained from all three institutions.

Each study had a slightly different aim. The main research questions from each of the studies are presented in Table 2. Study 1 investigated understandings and perceptions of future primary teachers of children aged 5–13 years about engineering and engineers. Study 2 aimed to gain insight into domestic and international female engineering students’ perspectives around the factors that influenced their study decisions. Students in study 2 were enrolled in the Diploma of Engineering, Bachelor of Engineering Technology, and Graduate Diploma programme in Civil Engineering. Study 3 aimed to determine the influencing factors of future career decisions of teenage girls. All participants were recruited through the institutions they were studying. In study 1, one of the researchers was a lecturer in the initial teacher education programme at one of the universities involved. The other was a male engineering lecturer at the other institute. In study 2, the students were in a programme where two of the researchers taught. The third researcher came from a local university and was the first of the two researchers mentioned in study 1. The final study involved high school student who enrolled at their local polytechnic as a part of their school programme. The researchers undertook all interviews, all but one was female. All took care to avoid judgement during the interviews and to remain unbiased as suggested by Cohen et al. (2011). All participants were voluntary, and pseudonyms are used in this article to protect anonymity.

Data was collected through the audio of individual interviews in study 1 and audio and video recording of focus group interviews in studies 2 and 3. In addition, participants in studies 2 and 3 filled in a short questionnaire. All audio data was transcribed, these transcriptions were then annotated with additional video data noting things such as gestures, actions and facial expressions. Thematic coding and recoding were used within each study to identify key themes. In all three studies, coding was done collaboratively by the participating researchers to ensure agreement and coding reliability. One of the researchers was common to all three studies, she identifed common themes across all three studies.

Table 2 Summary of Research Projects
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Findings

Although all three studies explored a range of perspectives related to the selection of engineering as a career for women, a few common themes emerged. These include: the economic prospects, school system, strong stereotypical views of engineering and engineers, and a lack of female role models and self-efficacy.

Economic prospects

All participants except five international students in study 2 were educated in New Zealand. The international students indicated that their reasoning for selecting engineering was to do with prestige and prospects. This was best illustrated by one participant who stated “I chose engineering, it’s good. I can earn money and I can have a good degree which is prestigious”. This was supported by another international participant, who also implied that she thought education was more highly valued where she was from, “I think there’s more of a drive overseas to become more educated”. Another participant indicated that her first career choice was medicine and engineering was next. She scored more highly on the latter in regional standard testing and therefore selected engineering.

I was to be a doctor. But the thing is that there were two entrance examinations, different entrance examination for medical field as well as engineering field in our region. So, I got good scoring for engineering, but I didn’t get good scoring for medical field.

Another participant was sent to New Zealand for her education. She indicated that career earnings prospects were important to her family.

Like my family are not in New Zealand they actually over in Fiji. So I was brought over here to basically have a better life because the poverty rate in Fiji is quite bad, and what really drives me is because mechanical engineering or just engineering in general has quite a good pay, so I’m looking up for my family and, you know, getting the job that I can support them.

The results above indicate that prospects and prestige played an important role in the international women’s career selection. None were discouraged from engineering because of their sex, schooling experience or attitudes of others. This was not necessarily the case for the participants who had grown-up in New Zealand.

School System

The New Zealand education system and curriculum design either directly or indirectly impacted the views of study 1 participants about engineering. In particular, participants identified that teachers played a significant role in their own career selection. It must be recognised that this opinion is likely to be biased towards teachers given the participants were either future teachers or teacher educators and were aware of impacting factors on girls’ potential success in engineering. One participant, a lecturer in teacher education, believed girls were less likely encouraged to engage in hands-on activities thus limiting their development of technical skills. “Girls are perhaps already at a disadvantage because some of the boys will be very familiar with engineering types hands-on activities, but the girls maybe not”. Another participant commented on the important role schools play in shaping children’s understanding of engineering believing families may not accurately convey correct messages due to limited experience in and knowledge of engineering. “I don’t think they [kids] know what an engineer actually is to be fair……. So it has to come from school.” In addition, some participants identified STEM subjects as a pathway to engineering and indicated schools and families believe that girls are not interested in STEM subjects. Another interviewee shared her experience from her own family to highlight the importance of encouraging all kids to follow their interests without stereotypical bias. The same interviewee further commented on how girls’ involvement in STEM subjects had changed over the last few years, based on her experience as a student, mother of a teenage girl and educator. In the extract below she talks about her daughter.

She has taken off [in] science, absolutely loves it. I don’t know where that came from, it wasn’t necessarily from me. But I know that from me she got that ‘you can do anything you want to do’ and there’s no gender stereotype. […] I think the STEM subject is now becoming more palatable to girls and the more they are getting into it, it flows down to the next level and the next level after that. Hopefully it’ll get to the stage that there’s no difference.

Participants in studies 2 and 3 were quite explicit in their views in relation to schooling and curriculum, messages they received about girls’ abilities in mathematics and science and teacher expectations in relation to their future careers. The domestic participants in study 2 criticised the school system and lack of career guidance they received, mentioned that their career advice was either late or not at all as is best illustrated by the following quotes. They described access to information through career advisors as ‘limited and random’. “I went to a girl’s school, and they don’t come around to talk about engineering, they talk about nursing and teaching” and “By the time a career counsellor started to talk to us about careers, it was too late because we hadn’t selected science or math subjects earlier”. Another student said that her school career advisor asked her what she wanted to do and when she responded that she didn’t know, instead of giving her guidance, she asked her to come to her when she had an answer. “At our school, we have an hourly help in career every term, so we have careers in Term 1 and most of the time because career advisor talks about university [not polytechnics]. And me and my friend [think] ‘that’s not what we wanna do’.

In study 3 one participant commented on a lack of school facilities and therefore a lack of exposure to different types of work and activities which results in the lack of understanding of what girls might like or dislike, thus they ended up with limiting career options. One participant talked about how when she enrolled in her high school (a single sex school) they had woodwork as a subject, but by the time she was ready to look at it as an option it was not offered anymore.

I think the lack of interest [in girls to engineering] is just the fact that, they have this perception that it’s a male career, since our school is all girls school our school don’t have the facilities, they don’t have the programmes for us to learn about it. So really, it’s only the ones who wanna do engineering, are the only ones who come to engineering.

Within the school system another aspect that was explored during the focus group interviews in study 3 was the participants’ view about maths. The rationale for this was drawn from the researchers’ previous study (study 2) and the literature related to girls’ achievement in maths (Adya & Kaiser, 2005; Barnard et al., 2012; Cadaret et al., 2017). Their responses were mixed; however, the majority of the students questioned the relevance of the maths curriculum to their future careers. They stated that they understood the need to learn basic maths, however as complexity increased, they felt that it was very important to contextualize content in relevant to real-world scenarios. They also implied ‘just-in-time teaching’ could increase relevance. This is best exemplified in the following quotes. One participant stated “why should we be graded on something that we probably aren’t going to use in the workforce. With maths [it] depends on what kind of career that you go into, and you might not actually need it”. Another stated “The basic subjects are alright but when it starts getting complicated it’s like am I actually going to use this?”.

Strong stereotypical views of engineering and engineers

Stereotypical views were pervasive across all three studies; however, these were manifest in a variety of ways: individual and society’s perceptions about gendered norms, male peers’ negative attitudes toward girls’ abilities and skills, and gender-biased attitudes by teachers. In study 1 participants were asked to visualise and describe a cartoon drawing of an engineer. Participants held strong stereotypical views of engineers and what they did. A number of participants admitted that they knew little about engineering and what they did know was considered stereotypical. Overwhelmingly participants saw engineers as male supported by this quote from one female participant, “Males go towards engineering type degrees and females go towards teaching”. This was also obviously illustrated by one male participant who described an engineer as a male, with tools all round him and in brown leather shoes, wearing a hard hat: “not afraid to put in a pair of steel-cap boots”. Interestingly he later described his wife “but my wife is 5’3”, slim, Korean girl and yet she did [engineering]”. Hence, the male engineer stereotype is strongly pervasive, even when that stereotype is contradicted by a close family member. He met his wife at a later stage in life when his stereotypical views of engineers may have already been solidified.

In study 2 participants were already tertiary engineering students, and therefore many of their experiences with stereotypical views came from prior to entering their current programme of study, especially about advice they received for their careers. A number of participants explained that most of the advice they received was related to the arts disciplines, nursing and teaching- generally accepted as more ‘female’ related careers. This was best exemplified by the following quote, “I went to a girl’s school, and they don’t come around to talk about engineering, they talk about nursing and teaching”.

In study 3 the presence of strong stereotypical thinking was experienced by participants when they were younger. Two participants experienced exclusion due to their gender when playing during childhood as illustrated, “all my cousins are male except for two of them and so like even if [we] have family gatherings, I wanna play with them, I couldn’t because I was a girl.” Another female participant agreed and said, “I have dealt [with] that with my cousins too.” She also added, “my nana did that to me, they were all like, you are welcome to do that, my nana was like no, that’s for the boys”.

Participants in studies 2 and 3 experienced male peers’ negative attitudes towards girls’ abilities especially in maths and science. A majority of the participants experienced stereotypical attitudes from boys during school activities. This was enacted through bullying and disbelief in their capabilities. Illustrated below by one participant who was selected and attended Nasa space camp. She talked about her experience with boys:

When we went to space camp, we went with some of the boys from around New Zealand and we made little rockets and we launched them and the girls went first and some of us failed and some of us didn’t go very well and some of them went very well and the boys at the one that failed did laugh and then they put their own, and theirs would go backward not forwards and they’ll be like, Ah and then when we started laughing at them, they be like (she shows a facial expression as they were upset); You guys need to understand that if you can’t take it, don’t give it out.

Some of the girls experienced pressure from their male classmates who appeared to have difficulty when the girls outperformed them, evidenced by another female participant’s description of some boys’ reaction to her high performance in their co-educational school. Not only did the girls experience stereotypical views from peers, but also from teachers. One participant from study 3 described her maths teacher’s actions, which exemplified this attitude:

I had one who thought girls couldn’t do it [maths]. So that’s why I really started liking maths, just so I could prove them wrong. That was very fun…There were two of us girls, and he’d give the boys all these hard questions and he’d give us easy ones like simple multiplication, simple division stuff, and when we asked for harder ones, he was like, ‘Oh na, you guys probably won’t get it’. And then the boys would actually ask us for help because we knew what we were doing, and they didn’t.

This is not surprising given the perceptions held about engineers by teachers and student teachers in study 1. When asked to describe a child who might become an engineer one participant in study 1 specifically mentioned explicit gender bias: “They’re mainly males and they didn’t really [achieve academic] standards”. One participant, who was a lecturer and former primary school teacher, saw a “future engineer’ as male with high academic achievements.

Not that I know an awful lot about engineering but I know some years ago, there was a little boy who was in my new entrant class and I always referred to him as ‘my little engineer’ because he was very strong with his math, he was very strong with his English, reading and writing I suppose and he was a talent across all subject that I’d thought you’ve got such a great line-up of talents. I imagined that he’d be a very good engineer.

Lack of female role models and self-efficacy

A number of participants across all three studies mentioned the influence of role-models on career decision making. In study 1 participants acknowledged the importance of role models in shaping children’s perceptions, half the participants mentioned that low female representation in engineering is both a result and cause of the lack of females in engineering.

I think that’s a big problem with young girls wanting to get involved in engineering, they don’t have those female role models that have gone down the engineering path to actually have those conversations with them, you know, talk about their experiences and maybe the things they are concerned about with interest, and just breaking down those barriers.

One of the participants reflected on her own experience growing up and getting exposure to various professions in her social and family environment. The lack of female representation in certain professions was evident. This affected her perception of professions and further encouraged the labelling of certain jobs as male and female.

Even from like 2 years old, they [kids] are seeing like dads and uncles and they go to the mechanics and the mechanics are males. They’d probably just always associated it with males. I can’t think of a time I’ve actually seen a female did my car or seen a female builder or something like that.…So growing up that didn’t come to my mind. I never once thought, oh, I’m going to be a mechanic, I’m going to be an engineer, I’m going to be a builder because those are male jobs.

In study 2 another participant noted that presenting female engineering role models as heroes may have a counterproductive effect on increased female participation in engineering. In particular, if female role models are presented as heroic, those thinking about engineering may consider the engineering profession to be much more bigoted and hostile against females that it actually is. It may also cause some introverted females to avoid engineering as they do not feel comfortable with being an anomaly.

It’s only really in recent years that we’ve started to see some of these occupations represented by women. And even there, they are still often seen as anomaly, someone who is particularly heroic because they’re unusual. It’s not yet statistically normal for women to be engineers. […] Heroic in that it is unusual and it’s not something that ‘Carrie from down the road’ does.

Some participants commented that even if females chose to pursue their interests in male dominated subjects or professions, their sense of belonging was challenged. One of the participants felt uncomfortable as a student in a class where she was the only female student and was concerned how females in engineering would feel entering into the engineering sector. “Well at the time when I did a [project management] paper… I was the only girl in the class, and it was very intimidating”. Participants commented that females who are interested in a male dominated field like engineering need to be overly confident, as there are additional challenges exist. One challenge is the lack of enough opportunities to establish networks with other female students/professionals, possibly explaining lower female representation in this field. “It’s probably also the confidence as a female to push yourself to take the steps and go towards engineering when it’s male oriented, I think that’s probably why there are not as many as possible”.

This finding was further supported by participants in study 2 all of whom self-identified as being ambitious and hardworking, some of whom were exposed to positive-role models. One participant stated, “I selected engineering because I am a logical person, and problem solver and engineering suits me”. Another participant had her mother as her role model, “my motivation comes from my mother, she is a manager, and very hardworking, she wanted me to go and study and get a good job”. A third participant demonstrated self-efficacy by saying: “I am ambitious and hardworking, and my motivation comes from fear of failure. Anything I commit to, I give it 120%, for me B is a failure.”

In study 3, a number of participants also stated that they were influenced by role models. One participant mentioned her ‘nana’ was an electrical engineer, another mentioned that her mum was into trades and did their house refurbishment. Being self-confident and persistent was also evident in a number of participants in study 3. For example, despite the barriers faced along her way to find an apprenticeship, one participant demonstrated determination as she searched for opportunities.

To get my apprenticeship, I had to go out and I emailed a whole bunch of people during school holidays, I emailed 10 people maybe and I got three responses, I was just asking for work experience and one of them gave me experience, he is the one gave me apprenticeship, just because I put the effort actually to get out there.

Finally, another evidenced self-confidence by proving her teacher was incorrect in the way he thought about girls in mathematics. “I had one [teacher] I didn’t like just because he thought girls couldn’t do [maths]. So that’s why I really started liking maths, just so I could prove him wrong. That was very fun”.

Discussion and conclusion

This research was situated in New Zealand, a developed country in the South Pacific. All but five participants across the three studies were educated in New Zealand. The findings from these studies support other studies (Huyer, 2015; Lamb et al., 2017; Saucerman & Vasquez, 2014; Vainionpää et al., 2019) suggesting economic prospects, stereotypical thinking and behaviours, views of self, role models and school system among others impact women’s career selection. Three spheres of influence on career selection were identified in this study: Participants’ macro-world, meso-world and micro-world. Figure 2 presents a modified version of Adya & Kaiser’s (2005) model of influencing factors on women’s career selection. It identifies three levels of influence drawing on the works of Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) Ecological Systems Theory explaining the necessity of considering multiple environments (worlds) when considering children’s development.

Fig. 2
figure 2

Factors influencing young women’s career choices in STEM related professions

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The macro-world is identified as the wider cultural, political and economic worlds women are exposed to in their formative and possibly future years. International students indicated that prestige and income were their main drivers into engineering. These aspects were not mentioned by the domestic students. The meso-world were the experiences the students had outside their family such as at school and in the curriculum they studied. Participants have less control of the influences in the meso and macro-worlds than they do in the micro-world, which includes influences related to family, peers and self. Stereotypical thinking influences were evident across all three worlds.

Macro-world

To help overcome gender imbalance in STEM careers, in many countries, governments and societal decision-makers have formed initiatives based on the idea that exposure to gender counter-stereotypical role models could influence aspirations and career choices among children, adolescents, and young adults. This action is aligned with Gottfredson’s (1981) theory on occupational aspirations, which suggests that individuals only consider careers within an area bounded by acceptable levels of prestige, and their sex within their culture. This is referred to as the Zone of Acceptable Alternatives (ZAA) (Brott, 1993). Gottfredson (1981) stated that all cultural groups have the same images of the same occupations. Cadaret et al. (2017) stated that cultural attitudes and economic factors influence career selection rather than ability. Both ideas are supported in this study. Those students who were brought up and educated in New Zealand held mainly common views of engineers and engineering, especially related to sex and ethnicity, until a time when they showed explicit interest. Those educated in developing countries identified that income and prestige drove their career decisions, suggesting a differing set of values across the two groups.

Meso-world

School system issues identified in all three studies can be grouped in four main categories: Teachers, career advisors, inauthentic curriculum, and lack of school facilities. Teachers impact on their students’ understanding of mathematical concepts by how they teach maths. Participants in study 3 mentioned a number of times that they didn’t like maths because they couldn’t see the relevance of learning to real life scenarios or its practical application. They acknowledged the need to learn basic numeracy, however, more complex concepts would be best learned as ‘just in time learning’ when they need it in their future careers. Hennessy (1993) also acknowledged that learning becomes more meaningful when it is authentically linked to current and possible future lives of students. Riggs & Gholar (2008) stated that students should be engaged in real world problems that triggers their deeper thinking abilities and creates more motivation for learning.

Based on the New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2007), mathematics is compulsory for all students to the end of Year 10. After that, students can select their subjects and potentially drop mathematics. This was mentioned by participants in studies 2 and 3 as a disadvantage. In both studies, students didn’t receive career advice until year 12 (16–17 years of age) despite the guidance from the Ministry of Education which requires schools to provide career advice from Years 7 to 13 (Ministry of Education, 2007). This implies that by dropping mathematics students exclude themselves from careers in STEM before they are even aware of their interest.

The final issue with the school system that has been a barrier to girls developing an interest in engineering related careers is the lack of exposure to engineering related activities at school. In study 1, teachers mentioned that limited hand-on activities at schools did not allow girls to develop technical skills and interests. Participants in study 3 also acknowledged that the lack of school facilities and therefore lack of exposure disadvantaged girls by hindering interest and curiosity and thus, limiting their career options. Fouad et al. (2010) found that environmental supports such as school facilities can improve participation in STEM areas whereas barriers can impede participation. However, lack of exposure to hands-on experiences is not limited to schools and felt by participants in study 3 throughout their lives during interactions with their fathers, uncles, boyfriends etc.

Participants encountered stereotypical thinking originating from their teachers. This aligns with Dickhäuser and Meyer’s (2006) findings that primary school teachers believed that boys were better at maths than girls. This is illustrated in study 2 when two of the girls experienced explicit male teacher bias in mathematics, stating that they felt that their teacher gave more difficult problems to boys in their maths group than to them. However, it was interesting to note that in this situation the boys subsequently asked the girls for help. It is unlikely that this bias was overt nor intentional as teachers often demonstrate unconscious bias about mathematical abilities of boys being better than girls (Perry & Bussey, 1979), however it is clearly impactful as indicated by the fact that these girls still remember the experience many years later. There is a famous quote by Carl Buechner well known in teaching circles that comes to mind here. “People may forget what you say. They may forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”. Adya and Kaiser (2005) found maths anxiety in female teachers correlated to achievement in maths for girls not boys. This further entrenches views of the traditional gender abilities that boys are better than girls in maths.

A lack of role models was also an influencing factor for the participants in this study. Participants from all three studies were influenced by role models. Early (2017) found that interviewing and writing about female scientists in fields of interest motivated girls to explore and aspire to careers in science. This relates to Oyserman, et al.’s (2002) theory of ‘possible future selves’ defined as the future-orientated component of self-concept which suggests that by examining their interests and by goal setting, assisted through exposure to strong female role models, girls are able to situate themselves in a newly imagined future, thus developing their self-efficacy. Role models assisted a number of participants in this study to imagine themselves in their future careers. This supports Zeldin and Pajares (2000) stance that women shape their self-efficacy primarily from their vicarious experiences and the social and verbal persuasions they receive from others. Olsson and Martiny (2018) suggest that observing same-sex role models triggers learning processes that enable the internalization of gender-stereotypical knowledge of roles which can be acted upon. Thus, the observation of women in gender congruent roles fosters gender-congruent aspirations and behaviours. A participant of study 1 noted the inverse counterpart of this concept when they noted that in her observed world ‘dads and uncles became mechanics’. Thus, it stands to reason that the observation of gender-incongruent role models (e.g., male kindergarten teachers or female engineers and leaders) should reduce gender stereotyping and promote gender counter-stereotypical aspirations and behaviour. This was supported by the findings in this study, participants from all three studies indicated the importance of gender counter-stereotypical role models for women. Olsson and Martiny (2018) suggests that counter-stereotypical role modelling assists the overcoming of gender inequality. However, some caution was noted from the participant who warned against calling gender counter-stereotypical role models as ‘heroes’ or ‘brave’. This falsely portrays the message that the journey into and within these fields is hard and challenging for women. This can be a counter -productive message when attempting to attract higher numbers of women into engineering and related careers.

Micro-world

Stereotypes act as a threat to self-efficacy (Cadaret et al., 2017). However, stereotypes also occurred within the students’ micro-world of influence. Cheryan et al. (2015) and Dresden et al. (2017) state that stereotypical views are a barrier to female participation in engineering. Some participants in study 1 indicated that strong stereotypical views of engineering and low self-efficacy in mathematics and science meant that they never considered engineering as a career. It appears that stereotypical thinking is very tenacious. Some participants mentioned experiencing gender bias through the stereotypical views of their parents and family, both are well documented sources of stereotypical thinking (Chhin et al., 2008; Crowley et al., 2001; Huttenlocher, and Gunderson, 2010). A number of participants from this research experienced stereotypical influences as exemplified by the participant who indicated her parents didn’t think that she would be suited to engineering because her sister, an engineer, was a tomboy and she was not.

Exposure to role models was also an influencing factor at the micro-level. Many participants across the three studies who had a reasonable understanding of engineering as a career also had family members in the profession such as uncles, brothers, fathers and a wife. Few of these role models were female. Determining the extent to which the counter-gender role models influenced participants was beyond the scope of this research.

Conclusion

(Mauk et al., 2020) caution focusing specifically on dominant discourse constructs surrounding children, girls and careers in male dominated fields as this puts pressure on parents to assist their children in becoming valuable contributors to society and the economy. This is especially pertinent to this study and problematic especially in relation to the suggestion that counter-stereotypical role models are essential and high self-efficacy of girls and young women in maths and science is needed. Putting responsibility for changing prevailing stereotypes on women potentially puts the onus on them to make the changes in society where they are less empowered to do so than men (Mauk et al., 2020). Feminist theory recognises that gender has persuasive influence as a category of organisation and acknowledges the deconstruction of traditional commitments to truth, objectivity and neutrality.

Factors influencing women toward or away from careers in engineering are complex and multifaceted. This study identifies impact on girls’ decision making in engineering ranges from very broad cultural, political and economic influences down to those on a more personal level such as self-efficacy related to mathematics and science and the views of the family and friends. The environment within which girls are raised heavily impacts on their image of future-self (Mozahem et al., 2019). Thus the responsibility for making change should be systemic and not the responsibility of the affected sector only (Cohenet al., 2011). To make a real difference in this space, timely and consistent career advice must be shared with students of both sexes before sex and gender roles are too firmly established. More specific career advice must be given before critical subject choices are made. Messages gained in the early stage must be continually reinforced and lived as children grow and develop a sense of their place in the world. Students should not be disadvantaged by which school they go, or by the career advice they receive. Finding from this study have led to the recommendation that career advice must be systematic, accurate and consistent across all schools regardless of whether they are single-sex or co-educational (both sexes). Two other recommendations emerging from the study are closely related: school facilities and teacher professional learning and development (PLD) must both be congruent to support unbiased career decisions among pupils. In many schools, practical facilities are outdated and still very much siloed in connection to materials used, for example resistant materials- woods and metal. Technology education as outlined in the New Zealand Curriculum (MOE, 2017) and a forerunner to engineering, is interdisciplinary and requires facilities that allow all students access to hands on activities that are not from a gendered segregated past. Closely related to this is the need for teacher professional development. Teachers and school management should be advocating for these facilities but are unlikely to do so if they have outdated views of technology or hold gender biased attitudes towards students’ abilities and achievement in maths, science, and technology.

This study clearly demonstrated that stereotypical views heavily impact how girls and young women see the world and how they fit within it. It also demonstrates the strength of stereotypical views, illustrated by the male participant in study 1 whose wife is Korean and an engineer and still held stereotypical thinking that engineers are white, middle-aged men. This thinking can become cyclic and thus hard to interrupt. If teachers hold stereotypical views, they pass on to their students, who grow up to be parents who pass these views to their children who grow up to be teachers. This cyclical nature of stereotypical thinking is concerning. How can this cyclic, deep thinking be broken? Bigler and Liben (2006) believe that intervention in changing stereotypical beliefs should occur in early childhood before children shape firm understanding about gender. Additionally, Leaper et al. (2012) found that gaining understanding of gender inequality in girls and learning about feminism has resulted in higher academic motivation and achievement for girls. This study has illustrated several issues with a one-pronged approach to the problem. The age of the students during an intervention is going to make little difference to attitudes and stereotypical thinking if change only occurs within the girls’ micro-world of influence or indeed any one world of influence. This study suggests that changes need to be made and supported across all three worlds of influence. This of course offers considerable challenges and needs the support of the whole nation.