Patrick Anita, Riegle-Crumb Catherine, Borrego Maura
The Center for Engineering Education, Cockrell School of Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-1293, USA.
STEM Education, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-1293, USA.
J Women Minor Sci Eng. 2021;27(1):31-55. doi: 10.1615/jwomenminorscieneng.2020030909.
Attracting women to the engineering profession has been a topic of ongoing discussion and examination. In light of perceptions of what it means to be an engineer, both male and female students are navigating and aligning their future career goals based on their understandings of engineering as a profession. This study examines 1) the extent to which there are gender differences in affinity toward elements of professional practice (framing and solving problems, tinkering, collaboration, analysis, design, and project management), and 2) whether gender differences in affinity toward these practices contribute to the gender gap in engineering professional identification. Survey data was collected from 2,256 undergraduate engineering students in three majors at one large public institution. Results show significant gender differences in affinities toward five of the six professional practices considered. Additionally, multivariate regression analyses revealed that the gender gap in engineering professional identification is partially explained by differences in these affinities toward engineering professional practices. Further analyses also revealed that affinity toward framing and solving problems was a stronger predictor of engineering professional identification for female students than for male students. Implications of the results are discussed.
吸引女性投身工程专业一直是一个持续讨论和研究的话题。鉴于对工程师含义的认知，无论是男学生还是女学生都在根据他们对工程专业的理解来规划并调整自己未来的职业目标。本研究考察了：1）在对专业实践要素（构建和解决问题、摆弄、协作、分析、设计以及项目管理）的喜爱程度上是否存在性别差异；2）对这些实践的喜爱程度上的性别差异是否导致了工程专业认同方面的性别差距。从一所大型公立机构的三个专业的2256名本科工程专业学生中收集了调查数据。结果显示，在所考察的六种专业实践中的五种上，存在显著的性别差异。此外，多元回归分析表明，工程专业认同方面的性别差距部分可由对工程专业实践的喜爱程度差异来解释。进一步分析还显示，相比男学生，对构建和解决问题的喜爱程度对女学生的工程专业认同是更强的预测指标。文中讨论了这些结果的意义。
