CHAPTER 3: REVIEWING THE LITERATURE: GENDER AND STEM IN HIGHER
3.4 Section 2: Female engineering students in higher education
Another theme that has been emerging in the literature concerns the role that school type plays in shaping women’s attitudes towards STEM subjects. When female and male students attend a co-education school, their gendered beliefs on roles and attitudes become stronger and they have the tendency to follow gender roles more powerfully (Küskü, Özbilgin & Özkale, 2007). Some studies indicate that women develop a higher degree of self-confidence in male-dominated subjects when they are in single-sex classrooms or classrooms with a higher share of female students (Schneeweis & Zweimüller, 2009, p. 4; Kessels & Hannover, 2008). From a study conducted in a girls’ single-sex high school in USA, the results indicated that the school had a major role in increasing the students’ interest, confidence and sense of community in pursuing technology related careers (Mehta et al., 2018, p. 375). This shows that single-sex classrooms/schools may increase the confidence level of female students in STEM.
Heemskerk, ten Dam, Volman and Admiraal (2009, p. 254) argue that, although both male and female students seemed to benefit from educational tools, gender disparities exist in the approaches of female and male students towards the use of educational tools and towards learning and that female students using less inclusive engineering tools (heavy and rough) found it difficult to adapt themselves in the classrooms compared to the male students (Heemskerk, ten Dam, Volman &
Admiraal, 2009, p. 254). However, female students were more comfortable with more inclusive engineering tools (light, soft and smooth) (Heemskerk, ten Dam, Volman & Admiraal, 2009, p. 254), because they have been made to believe that they are more at ease with such engineering tools. Instead of encouraging women to use all types of engineering tools, cultural gendered beliefs only hinder the greater involvement of women in STEM. In contrast to the study of Heemskerk, ten Dam, Volman and Admiraal, a study conducted with women in the military revealed
“women should be in the military not because they are like men but because they can alter the masculine culture” (Sasson‐Levy, 2003, p. 443).
Single-sex schools erase gender stereotypes (Law & Sikora, 2020, p. 1). Single-sex schools are considered to stabilise gender stereotypes that harmfully affect women’s
engagement in STEM (Forgasz & Leder, 2019). “The social class, the gender identity, racial identity and the religious ethos all play a role in defining the culture of the school and the experiences of the students and teachers in it” (O'Gorman, 2018, p. 9). According to Koekemoer (2018, p. 21), girls attending single-sex education have the tendency to be more competitive, less shy, and take greater risks in a single-gender setting. Dustmann and Ku (2018, p. 32) have argued that, in their study, they found strong evidence that students who attended single-sex schools did better in assessment than students in co-educational schools. According to Hahn and Wang (2019, p. 1), worldwide there is an increasing awareness in exploiting single- sex schools to increase student achievement. When related to other types of schools, single-sex female schools have a strong examination and academic achievement culture (O'Gorman, 2018, p. 9). The performance and achievement of female students in STEM confirmed the effectiveness of single-sex schools (Franklin, 2019, p. 81). Single-sex schools are believed to encourage women’s achievement and engagement in STEM.
3.4.2 Learning experiences of female engineering students in higher education institutions
Dewey (as cited in Glassman, 2001, p. 8) perceives experience as a physical act and as the consequences of that act. Dewey dislikes the contradiction that arises between the act of an individual and the way the individual thinks about the act. According to Dewey, these two aspects cannot be considered separately. Dewey highlights that experience plays a vital role in education, which includes the student and the educational environment. For example, a student who engages in rote learning does not hold any educational value whereas a worthwhile experience is an activity in which action and consequence are connected to previous and future activities.
According to Dewey (1912), education is the factor that establishes improvement. It is a strength that assists students in creating their primary experiences, leading to the secondary experiences of investigation and the organisation of knowledge (Dewey, 1912). The way teachers create experiences is inevitably an expression of their gender relationships with students. The dimensions of experience that are practical, intellectual and emotional are to be studied together (Roth & Jornet, 2014, p. 122).
In the same way, gender relations between students and academic teaching staff existing in higher education institutions influence the experiences of female
engineering students. As this study is interested in understanding how the gender regimes shape the learning experiences of female engineering students at a higher education institution, it is important to know that learning experiences are often influenced by interests, confidence, peer interactions and interactions with teachers inside as well as outside the classrooms (Bachman, Hebl, Martinez & Rittmayer, 2009, p. 2). All these four aspects mentioned were of interest as I embarked on this study.
According to a study in New Zealand, the process of learning involves not only obtaining knowledge of a topic but also engaging with cultural access and integration within communities of practice (Stonyer, 2002, p. 392). In the engineering field, women experience a dominant engineering discourse, gendered power relations and the assumptions inherent in feminist discourses (Stonyer, 2002, p. 397). In their study, Banerjee, Schenke, Lam and Eccles (2018, p. 300) state that the experiences of primary education had altered the self-beliefs of female students about specific fields of study such as engineering, which subsequently moulded their attitudes. Early influences can therefore shape the field of study female students may choose in higher education. Studying a STEM field in higher education is, therefore, dependent on primary and secondary education.
Furthermore, the intellectual, emotional and belief dissimilarities amongst individuals may be associated with biological developments such as changes in size and shape of the body and the experiences in wider socio-cultural contexts of everyone (Wang & Degol, 2013). Biological changes and cultural processes influence an individual. Many female students in STEM fields mentioned experiences with discrimination and prejudice thus making it hard for them to stay in the field (Smith & Gayles, 2018, p. 4). Favouritism and difference in treatment by staff also weaken the positive experience because academic teaching staff were found to be more supportive of male students (Milkman, Akinola & Chugh, 2015).
Women’s learning experiences are highly influenced by all the factors mentioned above.