2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Gender parity is known to advance the development of technology for more inclusive products and services, create better work and study environments, enhance general societal equity, and even increase the financial outcomes of enterprises. Unfortunately, these motives are not always explicit in the endeavors for getting more women into engineering, and the objective of increasing the share of women may appear as an end instead of a means. This, on its part, may reduce the interest in participating in these activities.
This paper introduces the insights of female and non-binary Finnish upper secondary school students on the need for having more women in engineering. The data were collected as part of the application process to an event introducing engineering to female upper secondary school students from the applicants who gave their consent to use their data for research purposes. The respondents (N=482) were asked about their opinion on whether technology/engineering needs more women as well as about the grounds for their view. Answers were submitted as open-ended text and varied from a couple of words to paragraphs with several hundred words.
Respondents recognized well the need for diverse views and ideas for the development of technology as well as the effect of gender parity in engineering on general gender equality. The equal right to follow one’s interests and passions was also frequently mentioned as it was noted that stereotypes, prejudices, attitudes, and poor self-confidence can hinder women’s intentions to engage in engineering and technology education. The results of a qualitative content analysis shed light on the young women’s views of equality and technology and can help in designing more inclusive and effective recruitment and outreach activities.