Women in Engineering: Almost No Gap at University but a Long Way to Go for Sustaining Careers
Engineering is one of the career fields where women’s underrepresentation has been tenacious. In Korea, the government has made continuous efforts in the last decades to make a difference, yet the rate of women who pursue an engineering career pathway is still low. In this study, we analyzed 415 sur...
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doaj-5f66bccc8f0c488da1882941849b3d9f2020-11-25T02:46:29ZengMDPI AGSustainability2071-10502020-10-01128299829910.3390/su12208299Women in Engineering: Almost No Gap at University but a Long Way to Go for Sustaining CareersEunju Jung0Ja Young Eunice Kim1Graduate School of Education, Sejong University, 209 Neungdong-ro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul 05006, KoreaDepartment of Architecture, Korea University, 145 Anam-ro, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 02841, KoreaEngineering is one of the career fields where women’s underrepresentation has been tenacious. In Korea, the government has made continuous efforts in the last decades to make a difference, yet the rate of women who pursue an engineering career pathway is still low. In this study, we analyzed 415 survey responses at a large private university in Korea to fulfill the aims of the current study: (1) to examine the gender difference on the 11 major- and career-related variables using <i>t</i>-test, (2) to test the adjusted social cognitive career theory (SCCT) model for the engineering undergraduate students’ intention to pursue an engineering career using path analysis. The independent <i>t</i>-test results revealed that the gender differences were found not in any major-related variable, but in three career-related variables, indicating the female students perceived their future career less vested than the male students. The path analysis results indicated that the adjusted SCCT model fitted to the data well and the relations among the variables were generally in the expected way with some exceptions. The highlighted implication is that removing systematic barriers and gender stereotype threats is as important as providing supports for gender equity in pursuing an engineering career.https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/20/8299gendersocial cognitive career theoryexpected career successintention to pursue engineering careersstructural change for inclusive engineering career |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Eunju Jung Ja Young Eunice Kim |
spellingShingle |
Eunju Jung Ja Young Eunice Kim Women in Engineering: Almost No Gap at University but a Long Way to Go for Sustaining Careers Sustainability gender social cognitive career theory expected career success intention to pursue engineering careers structural change for inclusive engineering career |
author_facet |
Eunju Jung Ja Young Eunice Kim |
author_sort |
Eunju Jung |
title |
Women in Engineering: Almost No Gap at University but a Long Way to Go for Sustaining Careers |
title_short |
Women in Engineering: Almost No Gap at University but a Long Way to Go for Sustaining Careers |
title_full |
Women in Engineering: Almost No Gap at University but a Long Way to Go for Sustaining Careers |
title_fullStr |
Women in Engineering: Almost No Gap at University but a Long Way to Go for Sustaining Careers |
title_full_unstemmed |
Women in Engineering: Almost No Gap at University but a Long Way to Go for Sustaining Careers |
title_sort |
women in engineering: almost no gap at university but a long way to go for sustaining careers |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Sustainability |
issn |
2071-1050 |
publishDate |
2020-10-01 |
description |
Engineering is one of the career fields where women’s underrepresentation has been tenacious. In Korea, the government has made continuous efforts in the last decades to make a difference, yet the rate of women who pursue an engineering career pathway is still low. In this study, we analyzed 415 survey responses at a large private university in Korea to fulfill the aims of the current study: (1) to examine the gender difference on the 11 major- and career-related variables using <i>t</i>-test, (2) to test the adjusted social cognitive career theory (SCCT) model for the engineering undergraduate students’ intention to pursue an engineering career using path analysis. The independent <i>t</i>-test results revealed that the gender differences were found not in any major-related variable, but in three career-related variables, indicating the female students perceived their future career less vested than the male students. The path analysis results indicated that the adjusted SCCT model fitted to the data well and the relations among the variables were generally in the expected way with some exceptions. The highlighted implication is that removing systematic barriers and gender stereotype threats is as important as providing supports for gender equity in pursuing an engineering career. |
topic |
gender social cognitive career theory expected career success intention to pursue engineering careers structural change for inclusive engineering career |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/20/8299 |
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