Course:VANT149/2022/Capstone/Arts/GroupE4
Title of Project
Gender Inequality in UBC Engineering Program
Research question
What are the reasons for the male dominance from male students’ perspective in UBC engineering department?
Researcher names
Hanna Gao; Sherry Zhu & Vivienne Shi
Project Proposal Summary
Our assignment was about gender inequality between men and women in the field of education. Initially, group members observed that there were inequalities and even significant differences in the number of male and female students in the engineering program at UBC. However, we were not sure about this conjecture, so we decided to do a study on it to confirm whether our conjecture and observation were correct. Therefore, our research question is ‘What are the reasons for the male dominance from male students’ perspective in the UBC engineering department?’ While doing the study, we found that some scholars have already studied the reasons. By analyzing and categorizing them, we divided them into social and personal causes. More than that, we found that these extant sources lacked a view of the male perspective. We will be interviewing male students of UBC engineering to obtain male perspectives on this issue and what they feel are the possible causes. We chose to use the interview method and it largely supported our study. To be more specific, the interviews allowed us to visualize the interviewees' attitudes toward the issue. After the interview, we could also easily categorize the information obtained. Clarifying the reason for the male student dominance in the UBC engineering department is important to achieving gender sustainability, and will also contribute to future research on reducing gender inequalities in education.
Project Objectives and Contribution to Scholarship
In the previous study, we explored primarily female and societal perceptions of the issue of male dominance in the engineering program. However, this research paper lacks the perception of male engineering students about the inequality in the number of male and female engineering students. We already have social and personal experience about the reasons for male dominance. However, the previous research was confined to a specific population, which is females. Therefore, it is vital to interview men's perspectives. This research will ask males' opinions on this phenomenon and possible reasons through interviews. After including opinions both from male and female students about this phenomenon, the research paper clears the understanding of the causes of male dominance in engineering programs. Understanding the reasons helps to provide a more effective way to address this problem. More than that, clarifying the causes for the male dominance of the UBC engineering department plays an important role in achieving gender sustainability, and will also contribute to future research on reducing gender inequalities in education.
Connection of Research Proposal to Sustainability
Our study focused on finding the reasons for the predominance of males in the UBC engineering program and exploring the perceptions and attitudes of male students in this regard through interviews. For example, in our study, we found that women's lack of confidence in STEM subjects is mostly due to the stereotypical beliefs of teachers and parents that women are not good at STEM subjects and continues to be instilled in them. When we know the reasons for this, we could urge people to stop doing this to avoid women's lack of confidence in STEM subjects. In addition, our study paves the way for other scholars to learn more about the causes and male perspectives that we have explored in order to find solutions to reduce gender inequality in education and achieve social sustainability.
Literature Review
The topic of our research project was about the reasons for the predominance of male students in engineering at UBC. Based on the search of academic articles, we learned the main reasons and divided them into social and personal factors. The social reasons for the near dominance of males in engineering at the university level focus on the gender categorization of the discipline by faculty, social stereotypes of women, and "face challenges in career" (Daily Mirror, 2020). In general, professors in universities often categorize sociocultural relevant majors such as agriculture and environmental engineering as attractive to female students, while technically oriented majors such as engineering, and mathematics are automatically considered inappropriate for female students (Salas-Morera et al., 2019). In addition, gender differences in STEM-related (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines start in high school because there's no real encouragement for women to enter the STEM field at all. (Hughes et al., 2017). In terms of personal factors, women do not consider themselves to be good at or confident in engineering and are not interested in engineering. Compared to males, females feel anxious about studying STEM which leads to them not considering pursuing STEM or a STEM-related career (Hall et al., 2021). In addition, female student is not able to fully understand the course material in STEM compared to men, which leads them to study engineering difficult for them (Ellis et al., 2016).
References
Ellis J, Fosdick BK, Rasmussen C (2016) Women 1.5 Times More Likely to Leave STEM Pipeline after Calculus Compared to Men: Lack of Mathematical Confidence a Potential Culprit. PLoS ONE 11(7): e0157447. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0157447
Hall, S. S., Puttick, S., & Maltby, J. (2021). Identifying the psychological processes used by male and female students when learning about science technology engineering and mathematics: A linguistic inquiry. Science Education (Salem, Mass.), 105(6), 1151-1172. https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.21679
Hughes, C. C., Schilt, K., Gorman, B. K., & Bratter, J. L. (2017). Framing the faculty gender gap: A view from STEM doctoral students: Framing the faculty gender gap. Gender, Work, and Organization, 24(4), 398-416. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12174
Mirror, D. (Ed.). (2020, January 29). Iet Young Woman Engineer of the Year 2019: Why are women a minority in Engineering? Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka). Retrieved January 28, 2022, from