Board 93 :  Ten Ways Academic Libraries Can Help their Departments Increase Retention of Women Engineering Students

Bossart, Jean; Bharti, Neelam

doi:10.18260/1-2--30139

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 9 publications

(10 reference statements)

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“…In this sense Blosser (2017) pointed out that faculty tend to classify disciplines as feminine or masculine. Agricultural, biological, biomedical, and environmental engineering seem to be socially relevant (Bossart and Bharti 2018), which are supposed to attract female students, while other degrees, classified as dirty or more technical, are supposed to be less appealing for women. As a result, the language used by teachers to describe their disciplines can have a negative influence in the cultural knowledge about gender and professional careers and prevent women's enrollment in engineering.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding why women don’t choose engineering degrees

Salas-Morera

Ruiz‐Bustos

Cejas-Molina

et al. 2019

Int J Technol Des Educ

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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.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding why women don’t choose engineering degrees

Salas-Morera

Ruiz‐Bustos

Cejas-Molina

et al. 2019

Int J Technol Des Educ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Such measures may include creating environments which encourage women to exercise their interests in engineering tasks that address societal challenges. Studies have shown that women earn larger portions of undergraduate degrees in programs which prepare them for careers that will benefit society [18]. GradWIE may seek to facilitate such environments and measure correlation with retention.…”

Section: How Survey Results Have Shaped the Group Thus Farmentioning

confidence: 99%