2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Gender Equity in Higher-Education Institutions: An Analysis of Student Perceptions in an Engineering School in Chile

Presented at Women in Engineering Division (WIED) Technical Session 6 - Institutional Contexts

The commitment to gender equity in a higher education institution is justified from an ethical and human rights perspective. Fostering gender equity within professional education enriches the diversity of perspectives and experiences on campus, enhancing academic life and promoting a more inclusive and tolerant environment. In the case of engineering education, which remains highly male-dominated, institutional commitment becomes a priority, enabling the generation of initiatives promoting this inclusive and gender-bias-free environment. All these actions will enhance the quality of learning by fostering critical discussion and a diversity of thought. Therefore, it can be stated that the incorporation of gender equity in professional education contributes to having a positive impact on society. This study analyzes the students' perception of institutional commitment to incorporating gender perspectives in a School of Engineering in Chile. The sample consists of 407 students from various engineering programs within this school, which has the largest enrollment at the national level. To address these objectives, a self-administered questionnaire was employed, adapted, and validated for the context of engineering students in Chile. The questionnaire covers the perception of incorporating gender perspectives in a higher education institution across three dimensions: (1) Institutional sensitivity to gender perspectives, (2) Integration of gender perspectives into the curriculum, and (3) Awareness of gender inequalities in the classroom. The results allow for the characterization of the sample's perception regarding incorporating gender perspectives into their engineering education programs. Furthermore, it is worth noting that statistically significant differences exist between the perceptions of men and women concerning the analyzed dimensions. These findings highlight the importance and the necessity of implementing actions that promote high-quality education free from gender biases.

Authors

Prof. Camila Zapata-Casabon Universidad Andres Bello, Chile [biography]

Master in Marketing and Market Research from the University of Barcelona, Spain. Industrial Civil Engineer from the Universidad del Bío-Bío. She has three diplomas in the areas of coaching, digital marketing and equality and empowerment of women. Her professional experience is linked to higher education as a project engineer and university management in the public and private area. Teacher at different universities in matters of entrepreneurship, business plans and marketing. She currently works as a teacher and academic secretary at the Faculty of Engineering of the Andrés Bello University. The areas of research interest are the impact, relationship and integration of the gender perspective within communications and marketing in the various areas of development, digital marketing and content marketing.
Prof. Maria Elena Truyol http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1153-4967 Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile [biography]

María Elena Truyol, Ph.D., is full professor and researcher of the Universidad Andrés Bello (UNAB). She graduated as physics teacher (for middle and high school), physics (M.Sc.) and Ph.D. in Physics at Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina. In 2013 she obtained a three-year postdoctoral position at the Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil. Her focus is set on educational research, physics education, problem-solving, design of instructional material, teacher training and gender studies. She teaches undergraduate courses related to environmental management, energy and fundamentals of industrial processes at the School of Engineering, UNAB. She currently is coordinating the Educational and Academic Innovation Unit at the School of Engineering (UNAB) that is engaged with the continuing teacher training in active learning methodologies at the three campuses of the School of Engineering (Santiago, Viña del Mar and Concepción, Chile). She authored several manuscripts in the science education area, joined several research projects, participated in international conferences with oral presentations and key note lectures and serves as referee for journals, funding institutions and associations.

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