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Factors identifying commitment to gender equality in a School of Engineering

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Conference

2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Minneapolis, MN

Publication Date

August 23, 2022

Start Date

June 26, 2022

End Date

June 29, 2022

Conference Session

WIED: Partnering with and Supporting the WIED Community

Page Count

17

DOI

10.18260/1-2--40699

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/40699

Download Count

416

Paper Authors

biography

Camila Zapata Universidad Andres Bello

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Master in Marketing and Market Research from the University of Barcelona, Spain. Industrial Civil Engineer from the Universidad del Bío-Bío. She has three diplomas in the areas of coaching, digital marketing and equality and empowerment of women. Her professional experience is linked to higher education as a project engineer and university management in the public and private area. Teacher at different universities in matters of entrepreneurship, business plans and marketing. She currently works as a teacher and academic secretary at the Faculty of Engineering of the Andrés Bello University. The areas of research interest are the impact, relationship and integration of the gender perspective within communications and marketing in the various areas of development, digital marketing and content marketing.

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biography

Maria Elena Truyol Universidad Andres Bello

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María Elena Truyol, Ph.D., is full professor and researcher of the Universidad Andrés Bello (UNAB). She graduated as physics teacher (for middle and high school), physics (M.Sc.) and Ph.D. in Physics at Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina. In 2013 she obtained a three-year postdoctoral position at the Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil. Her focus is set on educational research, physics education, problem-solving, design of instructional material and teacher training. She teaches undergraduate courses related to environmental management, energy and fundamentals of industrial processes at the School of Engineering, UNAB. She currently is coordinating the Educational and Academic Innovation Unit at the School of Engineering (UNAB) that is engaged with the continuing teacher training in active learning methodologies at the three campuses of the School of Engineering (Santiago, Viña del Mar and Concepción, Chile). She authored several manuscripts in the science education area, joined several research projects, participated in international conferences with oral presentations and key note lectures and serves as referee for journals, funding institutions and associations.

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Abstract

Incorporating gender equality issues within higher education becomes increasingly relevant in the current context. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5, dealing on gender equality, and SDG 4 dealing with quality education, reinforces the need to work on these issues. Engineering is a predominantly male centric area, as seen by the scarcity of women in the field. In Chile, only 18% of enrollments in engineering and construction degrees are women. It is well known that there are non-cognitive and affective factors that are relevant for student success and have a direct affect on degree choice and subsequent drop out rate. These factors bear relevance on curricular field, institutional sensitivity among others. For these reasons, it is necessary to rethink training institutions so they may become a welcoming, respectful space that favors full inclusion and development for women. The present work seeks to identify factors that enginering students themselves consider relevant and necessary to include in a School of Engineering, so as to allow promoting a safe and inclusive gender equal environment. Data was collected using a validated quantitative instrument, using the Sensitive Assessment for Gender Equality SAGE [1], training scale on students, regardless of their gender, in the School of Engineering of an important private entity in Chilean higher education, which has the highest enrollment nationwide. The study was complemented by conducting interviews with selected students. The results obtained go towards laying the foundations of what the engineering student community perceives as relevant regarding gender issues, during their training process. Additionally, the foregoing will allow in the near future to guide the School of Engineering in its proposals and in determining areas of opportunity and necessary actions to be made so as to be recognized as a leading institution among its peers in its commitment to gender equality.

Zapata, C., & Truyol, M. E. (2022, August), Factors identifying commitment to gender equality in a School of Engineering Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--40699

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