Part: 1

Declaration: CASE 28: Where Are the Women?

Several academic scholars have recently tried to clarify some misconceptions about why so few

women are in senior-level and leadership roles in engineering. It's been shown repeatedly that

gender stereotypes have a significant impact on how well people do their jobs. That is especially

important for women in engineering, who men consistently undervalue. Both males and females

have gender schemas that significantly impact how they think about and judge others. According

to this case study, letters of reference for professional women are shorter and include twice as

many doubt-raisers than letters of recommendation for males. She has a more troubled

personality. She uses more grindstone adjectives (e.g., hardworking or diligent) and less great

adjectives (e.g., smart) than letters for males, which are often far lengthier in length. Studies

show that women are less confident in their math skills and less entitled to high pay, even if their

actual performance levels are the same as those of their male counterparts. Leaders are thought to

be men, and the people who listen are women. Because of this, women who are in leadership

roles often have to work harder to show that they can lead well.

One theory says that when wrong implicit schemas are made clear, it's possible to start working

on them at the level of individuals and departments as well as at the level of the whole

organization. Some of the ideas men and women have about gender should be changed. It is

essential for women to be involved in research and included, says the "United Nations

Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization" (UNESCO), a lot of western countries'

histories can be summed up like this:

1. Feminist ideas keep technology and engineering at arm's length because of the wrong

gender roles that women are given.

1
 2. Engineering is thought of as a man's job because of the gender norms in the job market.

3. In engineering degrees, the traditional lecture-based learning environment is essential.

Having technical skills and a deep understanding of natural science tends to help the

interests of men more than women. Men's interests and expectations do not consider

women's experiences and concerns.(Starovoytova, July 2016)

More young people (both male and female) would be interested in pursuing a career in

engineering if the field's significance and relevance were made more prominent and recognized

by the public. According to the common consensus, both prejudices (engineering and gender)

should be addressed and adjusted to draw more women into the engineering field. For one thing,

preconceptions are pretty challenging to shake since they are so firmly formed in our minds; this

is because stereotypes are extremely firmly imprinted in our minds. To combat preconceptions,

we all have a role to play. And the battle against stereotypes starts with us, the stakeholders. A

systematic and deliberate approach should be taken to implement the change, with enough funds

and policies to support it. Engineers' education should bring engineering to the forefront of

public debate and refute the many misconceptions that have persisted for decades about the

profession.(Diana Starovoytova Madara, 2016 )

Works Cited
Diana Starovoytova Madara, S. N. (2016 ). Perceptions of Female High School Students on Engineering.
Journal of Education and Practice , Vol.7, No.25,.

Starovoytova, D. (July 2016). Female Under-representation in Undergraduate Education: Case study in

School of Engineering. Research on Humanities and Social Sciences , Vol.6, No.14.