Women, engineering and gender equality: Brazil and United States pathway

Abstract

: The task of discussing gender equity in society remains challenging, and new systemic strate-gies are needed to increase women’s participation in leading professions. Two decades after the 21st century, inequality between men and women continues to produce detrimental effects that reproduce past discriminatory behaviors and actions. We argue that professional training, financial support, economic autonomy, and structural adjustments are essential for women to overcome barriers of gender equity. Likewise, realizing that countries have expressly indicated that technology, engineering, and innovation are essential to development, we intend to focus our attention to the male domination in the field of engineering. We will analyze women’s enrollment in engineering courses in Brazil to explain why men are a demographic majority in the profession. Given this international reality, we also plan to show how access to the knowledge areas of engineering and dispari-ties in the study of engineering is also relevant in the United States. This study finds that the knowledge gap begins with differential socialization and development of girls and boys, who are presented with stereotypes that permeate and influence their perceptions, profes sional choices, and performance in the workplace. Fewer girls than boys choose engineering as a field and after the 20 years of service, greater than 30% of women have not remained in the engineering field. Even when women are technically prepared, they may experience stereotype threat, which can adversely impact their performance in the field. The reports show a peculiarity of patterns of “tantrums” displayed by women. That is to say, when choosing this profession, women have been opposed to the expectations and desires of family members and society in general; they have been resistant to a gender ideology that has signaled (and still signals) professional fields that are suitable for women. This resistance via a “tantrum” was present in reports of older and younger women, suggesting the permanence of gender patterns and images linked to profession’ choices in the last thirty years in Brazil. More than 70% of the students who obtained the thousand highest marks in the National High School Exam (Enem) are boys. Howe-ver, girls are the majority among the candidates. Data tabulated by the ‘State’ also shows that the total number of young men do better in the four areas charged by the country’s most important assessment. The greatest difference is in Mathematics and Natural Sciences exams (CAFARDO; TOLEDO, 2018, [s.p.]).