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

Hardtke, M; Khanjaninejad, L; Lang, C; Nasiri, N

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

Hardtke, M Khanjaninejad, L Lang, C Nasiri, N

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Publisher:: MDPI AG
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Sustainability, 2022, 15, (1), pp. 467
Issue Date:: 2022-12-27

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Hardtke, M
dc.contributor.author	Khanjaninejad, L
dc.contributor.author	Lang, C
dc.contributor.author	Nasiri, N
dc.date.accessioned	2023-01-09T02:31:37Z
dc.date.available	2023-01-09T02:31:37Z
dc.date.issued	2022-12-27
dc.identifier.citation	Sustainability, 2022, 15, (1), pp. 467
dc.identifier.issn	2071-1050
dc.identifier.issn	2071-1050
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/164785
dc.description.abstract	<jats:p>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.</jats:p>
dc.language	en
dc.publisher	MDPI AG
dc.relation.ispartof	Sustainability
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.3390/su15010467
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess
dc.rights	Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).
dc.subject	12 Built Environment and Design
dc.title	Gender Complexity and Experience of Women Undergraduate Students within the Engineering Domain
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	15
utslib.for	12 Built Environment and Design
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Provost
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Provost/TD School
utslib.copyright.status	recently_added	*
dc.date.updated	2023-01-09T02:31:35Z
pubs.issue	1
pubs.publication-status	Published online
pubs.volume	15
utslib.citation.issue	1

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.

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/164785