2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Investigating the Participation and Belongingness of Women in Engineering through Cultural Comparisons

Presented at Women in Engineering Division (WIED) Technical Session 3 - Belongingness and Community

The severe under-representation of women in the engineering profession observed in the United States is not consistent around the world. Significant variations in women’s participation in engineering among countries imply a cultural effect. This study demonstrates an inverse relationship between a culture’s Hofstede’s Cultural Dimension of Masculinity and women’s participation in engineering. Hofstede’s Cultural Dimension of Masculinity was applied to US subcultures to better understand the role of US subcultures on women’s representation in engineering degree programs. This study also compared perceptions held by engineering and health and human services students regarding relative suitability of people of their gender for careers in their fields, relative difficulty associated with working in their profession for people of their gender, and gender biases in their discipline as well as student’s sense of belonging in their discipline. The analysis used survey data collected from 613 students in the college of engineering and the college of health and human services at California State University, Fresno, a Hispanic Serving Institution. Differences in perceptions of gender-based suitability and levels of belongingness were observed between ethnic groups. A relationship between perceiving women to be less suitable for engineering and perceptions of increased difficulty for women in engineering was also observed.

Authors

Katlin Hart Rowley California State University, Fresno [biography]

Katlin Hart Rowley is a Geomatics Engineering student at California State University, Fresno. She graduated as valedictorian from CAVA High School and continued to transition seamlessly into collegiate life, where her passion for Geomatics Engineering and engineering education flourished. Throughout her time at Fresno State, Katlin has held prominent leadership positions within the Lyles College of Engineering as part of the honors college, demonstrating her commitment to excellence and innovation. Her active involvement in research projects and organizing key events, such as the Annual Geomatics Conference at Fresno State, highlights her dedication to her field and community.
Dr. Kimberly Stillmaker PE http://orcid.org/0009-0004-9549-9904 California State University, Fresno [biography]

Dr. Kimberly Stillmaker is an Associate Professor in the Civil Engineering Department at CSU, Fresno in the area of structural engineering and the director of the Lyles College of Engineering Foundations for Success Program. She attained her PhD in Civil Engineering at UC Davis. Her research interests include structural steel welded connections and gender equity in engineering. She is a Co-PI on an NSF ADVANCE Partnership grant titled Kindling Inter-university Networks for Diverse "KIND" Engineering Faculty Advancement in the California State University System.
Dr. Aaron Stillmaker http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7925-6177 California State University, Fresno [biography]

Dr. Aaron Stillmaker is the Director of the LCOE Honors Program, and an Associate Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department in the Lyles College of Engineering at California State University, Fresno, which he joined in Spring 2017. He earned his PhD in 2015 while affiliated with the VLSI Computation Lab in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of California, Davis. He received his BS degree in 2008 in Computer Engineering from the California State University, Fresno and his MS degree in 2013 in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of California, Davis. Dr. Stillmaker was an Assistant Professor at California State University, Fullerton in Fall 2016. He interned with the Circuit Research Lab under Intel Labs in Hillsboro, OR from September to December 2013. During his undergraduate work he held a long term internship at Pelco Inc.
Hayley Garza
Edgar Zuniga
Dr. Lalita G Oka http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0161-4453 California State University, Fresno [biography]

Dr. Lalita Oka is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Geomatics Engineering at the California State University, Fresno. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Geotechnical Engineering. Her research interests include experimental geotechnics, numerical modeling, liquefaction assessments, and dam safety. She is also interested in issues related to women in engineering and has published numerous articles in ASEE conferences.

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