Selling policy short? Faculty perspectives on the role of policy in addressing women's underrepresentation in engineering education

Despite a nearly 40-year history of research initiatives and interventions to recruit and retain women engineering students, women remain significantly underrepresented in engineering. Given the lack of progress, it seems clear that new lenses on the problem of underrepresentation warrant further at...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Studies in higher education (Dorchester-on-Thames) 2018-09, Vol.43 (9), p.1561-1572
Main Author: Beddoes, Kacey
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
admissions
Attention
Career Choice
College Faculty
College professors
Disproportionate Representation
Education policy
Educational Policy
Educational programs
Engineering
Engineering Education
Females
Gender Bias
Higher education
policy
retention
School Holding Power
Science Careers
Student Recruitment
Teacher Attitudes
Undergraduate Study
underrepresentation
Women
Workplaces
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Summary:Despite a nearly 40-year history of research initiatives and interventions to recruit and retain women engineering students, women remain significantly underrepresented in engineering. Given the lack of progress, it seems clear that new lenses on the problem of underrepresentation warrant further attention. Higher education policies are one area that has received comparatively scant attention from researchers and administrators in regard to underrepresentation in undergraduate engineering programs. This interview-based research article explores how policy featured in engineering professors' discussions about gender and underrepresentation in engineering. It shows that, while there is widespread awareness of workplace policies related to the careers of female engineers and engineering professors, policies related to underrepresentation in undergraduate engineering education programs are marginalized. The article concludes with seven examples of student-related policies that warrant further exploration in regard to women's participation in engineering programs.
ISSN:0307-5079
1470-174X
DOI:10.1080/03075079.2016.1266610