Exploring Women’s Experiences of Choosing and Studying Engineering and Navigation: A case study
Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: Women remain underrepresented in UK engineering, constituting only 11% of\nthe engineering workforce in 2017 (WISE, 2017). This paper summarises the\nfindings from two focus groups with twelve participants which explored the\nexperiences of undergraduate women engineering and navigation students at\nthe University of Plymouth. Our aim was to identify ways in which we might\nsupport the recruitment, retention and advancement of women in these\ndisciplines. It was possible to identify common experiences to illustrate that\nwomen as a group experience engineering and navigation differently from men.\nOur findings support those of many other studies and include: the ‘non-visibility’\nof engineering as a career option for girls and women and the need to adopt a\nrange of strategies to fit in and claim an authentic identity as an engineer, and\nnot a ‘woman engineer’. Additionally, participants were sceptical about initiatives\novertly contrived towards helping women to progress in the disciplines as this\ncan be perceived as positive discrimination towards male students and/or there\nis a concern that male students view them as such. Future research and possible\ninitiatives are discussed.
Source: PEARL (University of Plymouth)
Authors: Liz Hodgkinson, Asiya Khan, Sam Braide
Institution: University of Plymouth
Language: English
Subfield: Applied Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2911234323