Influencing factors on women in connection with engineering in New Zealand: a triad of lenses

Abstract

Abstract There is a considerable lack of women in the engineering disciplines at tertiary level in New Zealand. This is an economic issue because innovation and creativity in engineering are supported by diversity which directly and indirectly supports the New Zealand economy. Improving diversity in engineering will also improve equity. Literature suggests that parents, teachers, students’ self-perception, their beliefs, and stereotypical views influence girls’ career selection. Despite the vast number of studies in the international literature regarding the influencing factors on women’s career selection in engineering, this comprehensive study for the first time investigates the factors that contribute to women’s interest in studying engineering in New Zealand. The researchers explored these influencing factors from three lenses; future teachers of children aged 11–13 years, current engineering students and high school students. They found that participants held very strong stereotypical views about engineers, that barriers to selection of engineering pathway for females included a lack of career and subject choice guidance available to students at school, lack of promotion of the profession, and society’s perception of engineers as being masculine. It also found that experiences throughout their lives can steer girls away from a career in engineering.