COLLABORATIVE: Women's Engineering Participation in the US: What can the US Learn from Women's Decisions to Pursue Engineering in Diverse Cultural Contexts?

Washington State University, Pullman WA

Investigators

Abstract

This project seeks to understand the links between cultural context and expanding women's STEM participation by studying the economic, educational, socio-cultural, legal, and political drivers of women's participation in these contexts. This project will apply case study methods to collect rich data from focus groups and in-depth interviews in four countries (Jordan, Malaysia, Tunisia, and Saudi Arabia) with female engineering undergraduate students, faculty members, and practicing engineers (total N=208-325). Intellectual merit: This project entails conducting research in four countries (Jordan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia) to assess the contextual factors that encourage women's participation in engineering in tertiary education and as a career. In three of the four countries identified (Jordan, Malaysia, and Tunisia), women's participation in engineering is much higher than in the US, despite social, political, and economic restrictions on women's participation in public life. In the fourth country (Saudi Arabia), women's engineering participation is also rising. The research is significant because it promises to document factors that encourage women's successful participation in STEM in social, political, and cultural contexts that are very different from the US. It will provide cross-national, in-depth exploration of women's curricular and career choices and attention to mechanisms producing gender-differentiated curricular and career decisions. Broader impacts: Women's participation is engineering is a crucial national priority. The shortage of engineers in the US weakens the country's position as a leader in the global market and restricts our capacity to solve infrastructural challenges. This project promises to shed light on how context shapes women's successful participation in STEM in ways that inform our efforts to broaden participation in the US.