CHAPTER 3: REVIEWING THE LITERATURE: GENDER AND STEM IN HIGHER
3.3 Section 1: Reading women and STEM from a feminist stance
3.3.2 Progress of women in STEM in developing contexts
The under-representation of women in engineering does not mean that women are less competent than men. Due to the social processes, the presence of women in engineering, is less compared to men. In developing countries, women pursuing a career in STEM, struggle with societal discourses such as managing family and work life that construct leadership as male. For example, in Sri Lanka, “men expect women to behave like ‘women,’ submissive and compliant, and do jobs that comply with these characteristics” (Menezes, 2018, p. 131). A comparative view with developing countries like Mauritius such as Sri Lanka, may lead to the conclusion that developing countries may face specific contextual factors that have not been adequately problematised and researched. Patterns in developing countries show that gaps such as gendered ideas, gendered stereotypes, gendered discourses and an unfavourable environment persist. According to Bunwaree (1997, p. 310), it is important to encourage women to enter the traditionally male fields and the Government should find ways to encourage more female students to study STEM. In Mauritius, women are largely absent in key areas of decision-making (Gunganah, Ragobar & Varma, 1997). The exclusion of women from the development process of the country, would not only mean a drastic loss of human potential but would also have implications for democracy (Bunwaree, 1997, p. 315). It is important to enhance the participation of each citizen irrespective of gender “is not only a matter of economic efficiency arising from the necessity to employ effectively the important economic asset that Mauritians represent, but also a matter of equity”
(Bunwaree, 1997, p. 315).
Bunwaree’s (1997) study discusses the economy of Mauritius in the post-GATT era and how the qualities of women are not being utilised efficiently in the labour
market. Bunwaree (1997) proposes a reform of the educational system, which would enable women to integrate the labour market with higher levels of education and responsibilities, instead of assuming subordinate roles in the labour market.
Bunwaree (1997) suggests that reinforcing school textbooks and gender roles in schools could eliminate job discrimination. Bunwaree (1997) indicates that discrimination exists in primary education, which feeds the possibility that such practice exists in higher education.
In STEM, research has proven the existence of gendered ideas and stereotyped beliefs that have questioned the competencies of women, thus preventing them from entering Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) (Erwin and Mauratto, 1998;
Frenkel, 2008; Knights & Kerfoot, 2004; Phipps, 2007, cited in Walby, 2011, p. 6).
The presence of more men than women entering SET, might influence the gendered culture of SET (Walby, 2011, p. 7) thus causing the low participation of women in STEM. The gendered nature culture and practices within educational institutions are also highlighted by Howe-Walsh and Turnbull (2016, p. 8), where women were found to be at work in a setting in academia that favours men and that has few women who could be their role models, which may explain the shortage of women in leading positions in STEM (Howe-Walsh & Turnbull, 2016, p. 8). Women may not be motivated to enter STEM because of the existence of the gendered culture that puts at stake their competences.
Gender in academic settings is associated with the field of study and as such men perform better in STEM disciplines whereas women perform better in art and languages (Madu, 2011, p. 3702). According to Walby (2011, p. 5), some women do less well in technical fields, which may explain their low participation. Women sometimes perform less well in technical/science related disciplines because of gender stereotypes and they are often influenced by attitudes that lead them to compromise their learning experiences and constrain their choice of study in higher education, thus preventing them from engaging in STEM subjects at a higher education (Smith, 2011). However, the under-representation of women in STEM could have more to do with their academic strengths than their weaknesses.
A gendered setting may prove to be a disadvantage towards women (Jasko, Dukala,
& Szastok, 2019, p. 8) and characteristics that are linked with men or women in STEM could further strengthen the belief “that women cannot perform well in male- dominated” fields and demotivate them (Jasko, Dukala, & Szastok, 2019, p. 2).
When evaluating gendered attitudes and behaviours in classrooms, students and educators believe that female students behave better and are more compliant than male students in classrooms, whereas male students are considered as troublesome (Mullola, Ravaja, Lipsanen, Alatupa, Hintsanen, Jokela & Keltikangas Järvinen, 2012). Taken together, findings have shown the discourse that uses stereotypes such as nice female students and intelligent male students in educational institutions (Butler, 2014). According to Butler (2014), the gendered stereotype in STEM in favour of men might not encourage female students to study STEM fields. In most cases, students are determined to study fields that they identify as relevant to their own self-concept.
Goal 5 of the Sustainable Development Goal aims to “achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls” (Hirsu, Hashemi & Quezada-Reyes, 2019, p. 1) and is of particular importance to countries where gender inequalities are prevalent.
Gender equality in STEM guarantees that all individuals, irrespective of their gender, acquire expertise and prospects to assist equally from STEM (Fernández Polcuch, Brooks, Bello & Deslandes, 2018, p. 29). Gender equity in STEM education is an accepted goal within higher education institutions (Chavatzia, 2017, p. 11). In Mauritius, women’s absence in science subjects shows an increasing pattern all the way up the pipeline until higher education, especially in the engineering field (Higher Education Commission, 2020, p. 19). The harm is evident from upper secondary school level that is at Grade 10, among those female students who do not choose science subjects.
Despite the situation revealed by the above researchers, there are women who challenge the stereotyping by practising their femininity in ways that conflict with the gendered attitudes and beliefs about the STEM field being more apt for men than for women (Makarova, Aeschlimann & Herzog, 2019). It appears that women are perceived as hardworking learners (Pomerantz, Raby & Harris, 2017, p. 4) and this characteristic conflicts with the gendered associations of STEM (Master, Cheryan,
Moscatelli & Meltzoff, 2017, p. 94). Some women do not associate STEM fields with masculinity and some women do not regard themselves as being so feminine (Kessels, Heyder, Latsch & Hannover, 2014; Tobin, Menon, Menon, Spatta, Hodges
& Perry, 2010). Therefore, associating femininity with the inability to succeed in STEM is inappropriate. Some women who would consider themselves as being talented or intellectual irrespective of their gender could perform very well if they work hard. Among the small number of women who enrolled in STEM fields, there may be drop-outs, thus leading to a small number of women pursuing a career in STEM. Consequently, gender inequality occurs in STEM.
The case is not different for Mauritius. Mauritian women enrol in the education system as equals to their male counterparts, for instance, according to Statistics Mauritius, in 2019, the pass rate of female students at the Cambridge Higher School Certificate examinations was 77.8 % (Statistics Mauritius, 2020, p. 12). Nonetheless, female students are persistently under-represented in engineering fields in higher education, for example in 2019, only 1.2% of female students joined engineering in public higher education institution (Higher Education Commission, 2020, p. 13). The reports published by Statistics Mauritius (2020, p. 13) and the Higher Education Commission (2020, p. 19) reveal that higher education enrolment in engineering fields follows the same patriarchal pattern, where the participation of women in engineering, as a field of study in higher education, is very low compared to that of male students. This shows that a gender gap exists in the STEM subjects in higher education in Mauritius. For instance, only 2.9%, 2.5% and 1.6% of female students of the total students at the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Mauritius in the academic year 2019/2020 were enrolled in BEng (Hons) Civil Engineering, BEng (Hons) Electrical and Electronic Engineering and BEng (Hons) Mechanical Engineering, respectively (Higher Education Commission, 2020, p. 28). This shows that female participation in some fields of engineering in Mauritius is very low, with a percentage of 1.2% of female students who studied engineering in public higher education institution (Higher Education Commission, 2020, p. 13). The figures show that female enrolment in some fields of engineering is very low as opposed to that of male enrolment. Mauritius is still a patriarchal society (Gokulsing &
Tandrayen-Ragoobur, 2014, p. 620). In Mauritius, apprehensions regarding male domination, discrimination and patriarchy influence most women. Despite having a
career, women are required to assume the household and caregiving duties and are under-represented in positions of power (Ramtohul, 2020, p. 91).