To do with STEM

Author: Unkemetsi Sebata Co- authors: Patrick Senderayi and Dr. Starlin Musingarabwi

Theme: Enhancing Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Instruction

•

Sub theme: Enhancing the employability skills of STEM graduates

•

Study topic: Exploring the Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Polytechnic STEM

students’ perceptions of the influence of gender stereotypes on choice of an engineering trade and employers’ decisions about the students’ employment opportunities.

Introduction/Background

• • Despite the universal call for gender parity and the legislation for empowering the girl-child and women through creating opportunities for females in all fields of endeavour in most countries of the world, there is an underrepresentation of females in the Science, Technology and Mathematics (STEM ) fields.

Reporting that women made up less than 25% of the workers in the engineering field in 2009 in Canada, Fisk (2011) observes that the dearth of women in the STEM fields is attributed to several factors.

• The under-representation of females in the STEM programmes at Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Polytechnic prompted us to probe the students Motor Mech and Electrical Power) to glean some insights into the gender issues regarding their choice of an engineering trade and employment opportunities.

•

Enrolment in Engineering trades at JMN Poly by sex( Electrical Power and Motor Mech)

• Enrolment statistics spanning 2010 to 2014 as follows: (1) Electrical Power; 2010, males = 9, females = 1; 2011, males = 7, females = 1; 2012, males = 10, females = 2; 2013, males = 15, females = 1 and 2014, males = 16, females = 5. For all these years there are 0 female students in the Mechanical Engineering course at this college.

Enrolment in Engineering trades at JMN Poly by sex( Electrical Power and Motor Mech)

E P MM Year

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Male

9 7 10 15 16 2 5 1 1

Female

1

Year

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 5 7 6 5

Male

11 0 0 0 0

Female

0 Total 57 10 34 0

The biological/physiological perspective of gender in relation to the STEM field

• • • Scholarly accounts that apply this perspective to the engagement of women in the STEM fields have detailed the notion that men are naturally better at studying these disciplines than women (The Varsity, 2014) The Varsity (2014) further writes that some critics still claim that men have superior 3D spatial and visualisation skills which most women lack, and yet these are crucial in STEM fields.

According to Huhman (2012) those who subscribe to this perspective ascribe the gender differences in relation to STEM fields to the notion that biologically, Science and Mathematics are typically male fields, while humanities and arts are primarily female fields. Fisk (2011)

Perspectives (cont)

• According to Huhman (2012) those who subscribe to this perspective ascribe the gender differences in relation to STEM fields to the notion that biologically, Science and Mathematics are typically male fields, while humanities and arts are primarily female fields. Fisk (2011)

Socially constructed stereotypes scare away females from STEM programmes

• Referring to “the stereotype threat phenomenon, Powell (2012) argues that if a person is exposed to negative stereotypes about a group to which they belong, they will then perform worse on tasks related to that stereotype.

• Scholars observe that negative stereotypes about women lacking strong mathematical abilities and about men making better engineers /scientists have influenced women’s aspirations and career decisions, thereby funneling them away from in male-dominated subjects (Huhman, 2012; Powell, 2012)

Stereotypes(cont)

• • While there exists some empirical evidence that refutes the foregoing claims by way of some studies that have revealed a rapidly shrinking and even non-existent gap in the general performance levels between men and women in STEM fields (The Varsity, 2014) the underrepresentation in this area still persists.

Exposure to STEM- related activities

• • • • According to Opsal, Perez, Gibson and Lynch (2011) studies indicate that women’s lack of experiences is traceable to experiences in and out classroom, which in most cases are more available to men. The Varsity (2012) states that women seldom avail themselves to certain masculine activities.

Male students improve their spatial/visualisation skills through playing with erector sets and 3D computer games, which exposure could also enhance the females’ abilities (The Varsity, 2014).

This environmentalist conception of gender stereotyping in relation to STEM seems to suggest that if women’s skills can easily be improved over time by a supportive practising environment, then the claim that their innate abilities matter most becomes irrelevant The gender differences are therefore more probably a function of gender stereotyping than physiology (The Varsity, 2014).

Statement of the problem

• With the under-representation of females in STEM programmes(Motor Mech relation to STEM programmes.

and Electrical Power Engineering) respectively, at Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Polytechnic, we felt that not much is known about what students think about gender issues in • The purpose of this study is to interrogate the STEM students to elicit their views on how they think gender stereotypes frame and shape their 2014).

choice of an engineering trade and employment opportunities(see slide 3 and 4 for enrollment span from 2010 to

Goals of the study

• To identify and describe gender stereotypes that STEM students know concerning the trades for which they are training?

• To establish whether or not students ascribe their choice of the Engineering trade to gender and their reasons for the choices • To determine whether or not STEM students ascribe the availability of employment opportunities for the trades they are training to gender.

•

Research methodology

Qualitative case study

analysis.

that employed slight quantitative data • • • •

Instruments

 Questionnaires  Interviews  FGDs

Sampling

The study employed purposeful sampling.

Respondents were NC 3 students(n=20)(Motor Mech and Electrical Power) respectively who returned from Industrial Attachment (IA) and comprised of15 males and 5 (all) females.

Ethical considerations

• Permission from the Joshua administration and Research Group Mqabuko Nkomo Polytechnic • Informed verbal consent was obtained from the participants prior to participation in the research • Data were coded to remove any identification of participants • Participants were notified of their right to withdraw • Participants assured that no harm would come their way • No incentives would be offered.

Results and discussion

• • • • • • • FGD with six (n=6) participants, (3 males and 3 females) to collect shared understandings of the focal issue based on a variety of unique perspectives of the participants (Hennink, et al., 2011).

This resulted in some key themes depicting the gender stereotypes that students commonly know in relation to STEM issues. The themes are presented hereunder: Theme: Science and Mathematics are for boys Theme: Boys perform better than girls in Mathematics and Science Theme: Females are scared of Mathematics and Science-related jobs Theme: Males are better than females in engineering jobs The results above show that students in this study have an awareness of the presence of gender stereotypes in relation to the STEM programmes

Table 1 shows that the majority of students (70%) did not attribute the choice of their engineering trade to their sex. In the interviews, some of them said they chose their trade on the basis of an awareness of gender equality, interest in the trade, Data c

Table 1: Data on students’ perceptions of their choice of the engineering trade (n = 20)

Item Yes No Frequency N % N % 1.Was the choice of your trade influenced by your sex?

7 35 13 65 2. Would you say your course/trade gives you any challenges that are related to your sex?

8 40 12 60 3. From your experience in Industrial attachment, do you think you are comfortable to get employed in the trade that you trained for?

4. Would you choose to take up the job for which you trained in a leadership position?

18 19 90 95 2 1 10 5

Results and Discussion

• • • • • Table 1 shows that the majority of students (70%) did not attribute the choice of their engineering trade to their sex.

In the interviews, some of them said they chose their trade on the basis of an awareness of gender equality, interest in the trade, intellectual capability and self-confidence.

Interestingly, a sizeable number of them (35%) confirmed that they took into account their sex in choosing this trade.

They cited their reasons for considering their sex as: (a) the fact that the job is menial and manual, demanding physical strength (b) the idea that men are well-versed and more exposed to the field.

This finding resonates with the literature which underscores the importance of gender differences regarding exposure to STEM activities that have been traditionally known to be masculine (The Varsity, 2014).

Results and Discussion

• Data collected through a closed questionnaire presented in Table 2 below confirms that the majority of students in this study (80%) dissociate themselves from the belief that the engineering trade is for men. • Coversely, 100% of the participants agreed to the view that both men and women can equally competently train and master the engineering trade, while 65% agreed that female engineers are as equally competent as their male counterparts, disconfirming the patriarchal view most societies hold that STEM fields are naturally and typically for males (Powell, 2012).

Results and Discussion

• • • A majority of the students (60%); ( 90%); and (95%) felt that the engineering trade did not present challenges related to their sex, and that they were comfortable to get employed for their trade and could confidently choose leadership positions in these jobs, respectively.

All the females confirmed their readiness to lead others in this trade.

• These findings suggest that although most of these students were aware of gender stereotypes that society often attach to participation in STEM fields, they did not hold negative gender stereotypes in relation to their trade.

Interestingly, even the male participants who constituted the majority in this sample held positive perceptions about their female counterparts whom they believed had the potential to engage competently in the engineering trade, despite the fact that they could face challenges related to tasks that demand physical exertion.

Results and Discussion

• • • • • Interview data confirm the little effect that gender stereotypes seemed to have on most students’ perceptions of gender issues in relation to the STEM programmes in this study at this college. The following interview themes illustrate this point: Theme: Enrolment at the college is based on merit.

Theme: Ability counts in the choice of this trade.

Theme: Some women perform better than men. This finding concurs with literature which acknowledges a rapidly shrinking and even a non-existent gap in the general performance levels in STEM tasks (The Varsity, 2014), suggesting that for as long as people stop stereotyping, females are well competent and likely to develop interest in STEM tasks.

In contrast to the positive perceptions that most students held about female participation in the STEM fields, 20% (See Table 2 below) of the participants confirmed the stereotype that the engineering trade is for men

Results and Discussion

• • • • • This questionnaire finding is triangulated by interview data themes developed from the participants’ views that we present hereunder: Theme: Some ladies still think that engineering is for men.

Theme: Women lack confidence in the trade.

Theme: Society still underestimates the potential of women in this area. This finding resonates with literature which attributes women’s lack of technical confidence to the stereotype threat whereby women tend to perform worse on tasks related to the negative stereotypical judgments that society makes of them (Fisk, 2011; Powell; 2012).

Results and Discussion

• This questionnaire finding is triangulated by interview data themes developed from the participants’ views that we present hereunder: • • Theme: Some female students still think that engineering is for men.

Theme: Some females lack confidence in the trade.

• Theme: Society still underestimates the potential of women in this area. This finding resonates with literature which attributes women’s lack of technical confidence to the stereotype threat whereby women tend to perform worse on tasks related to the negative stereotypical judgments that society makes of them (Fisk, 2011; Powell; 2012).

Finally Item

Table 2 : Data on students’ perceptions (n = 20)

Strongly disagree Disagee Not sure Agree Strongly agree 5.The engineering trade is for men and not for women N % N % N % N % N % 12 0 60 0 4 0 20 0 2 0 10 0 2 11 10 55 0 9 0 45 6.Both men and women can competently train and master the engineering trade 7. Zimbabwean employers are willing to offer jobs to engineers regardless of their sex 0 0 7 35 2 10 9 45 2 10 8. There are equal employment opportunities for both men and women in Zimbabwe’s engineering job market 9.Zimbabwe’s female engineers are as competent as male engineers and can be employed for the same jobs.

2 1 10 5 7 4 35 20 3 2 15 10 3 7 15 35 1 6 5 30

Results and Discussion

• • • • • Finally, findings in Table 2 above indicate that a majority of the students (55%) believed that Zimbabwean employers are willing to offer jobs to engineers regardless of the sex of these engineers.

This means that these students believed that employers did not consider the sex of a STEM graduate and therefore employment opportunities in the engineering trade was not necessarily linked to gender.

In the interviews some students opined that that the main criterion employers use to engage engineers is not so much of gender as it is the individual’s competency in the job.

While 20% believed that there are equal employment opportunities for both men and women in Zimbabwe’s engineering job market, a sizeable number of the participants (45%) believed that this was not the case.

Some students argued that men enjoyed more of these opportunities than women as employers preferred them for being more “physically and technically competent.”

Results and Discussion

• • • The mixed feelings that participants expressed about the gender issues thus underline the complexity that is attendant to the explanation of this subject.

The fact that a majority of participants seemed not to harbour negative perceptions about women’s participation in STEM activities while others did so suggests persistent stereotypical thinking among some young people.

The implication of this scenario to the teaching and learning of STEM programmes at this college is that in the absence of conscientisation of students of the need to transcend stereotypes in relation to this area, women may continue to shun this field.

Conclusions

• • • • • The fact that most participants in this study did not perceive gender stereotypes as a key determinant of their career choices seems to suggest that gender has no impact on the process that some males and females (in this study) go through when they choose an engineering career.

Although most participants displayed a clear knowledge of gender stereotypes in relation to STEM career choices, some participants still held negative stereotypes towards women.

Some students attributed employment opportunities to a person’s sex in favour of men indicates the stereotypical traits that still prevail among some STEM youth and probably employers and the general community.

Participating in this study were aware of the role played by various other factors in defining their career decision and explaining employment opportunities besides gender.

Students portrayed gender stereotypes in a positively in the light of the global transformation on women’s rights and affirmative action in Zimbabwe, where both men and women can compete for and occupy the same jobs.

Recommendations

• • • • • • Girls should be encouraged to develop nontraditional skills such as building and wiring and the use of technological tools at an early age or at ECD.

Female students exposed to successful female engineers as role models who talk to them about the STEM professions.

. Society should disabuse both males and females of the gender stereotypes by impressing upon them that all human fields of endeavour, including STEM are meant for both the sexes.

Perceptions of Employers on gender stereotypes on this subject could also be further investigated.

While this baseline study provides a comprehensive understanding of the perceptions of STEM students regarding how gender issues shape and frame their choice of a trade and the decisions of employers about the students’ employment opportunities, the findings can not be generalized to all colleges We recommend that a larger and more balanced sample in terms of gender could enable a more systematic investigation of gender differences in career decision-making using the Study Choice Task Inventory (SCTI).

References

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Creswell, J. W. (2005) Educational Research: Planning, Conducting and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research. New Jersey: Pearson.

Creswell, J. W. (2007) Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches. London: Sage Publishers.

Fisk, S. (2011) Gender Beliefs Funnel Women Away from Science and Engineering. Available at: web.stanford.edu/group/knowledgebase/cgi_bm/2011/02/25/gender_beliefs_funnel_women_away_from_science_and_engineering. [accessed 29 July 2014].

Hartas, D. (2010) (ed.) Educational Research and Inquiry: Key Issues and Debates. London: Continuum International Publishing Group.

Hennink, M., Hutter, I. & Bailey, A. (2011) Qualitative Research Methods. London: Sage Publications.

Huhman, H.R. (2012) STEM Fields And The Gender Gap: Where are the women? Available at: www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2012/06/20/stem-fields-where-are-the women/ [accessed 30 July 2014].

Hobson, A.J. & Townsend, A. (2010) Interviewing as Educational Research Method(s). In D. Hartas, ed. Educational Research and Inquiry: Key Issues and Debates. London: Continuum International Publishing Group, pp. 223-235.

Leedy, P.D. & Ormrod, J. E. (2010) Practical Research: Planning and Design. New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc.

Opsal, S.C, Perez, D., Gibson, J. & Lynch, R.M. (2011) Gender Stereotypes Persist in Middle School Students Engaged in Technical Activity Powell, A. (2012) Gender Stereotypes among Women Engineering and Technology Students in the UK: Lessons from Career Choice Narratives. Available at: http//:eric.ed.gov/id=EJ 986592 [accessed 1 August 2014].

Punch, K. F. (2009) Introduction to Research Methods in Education. London: Sage Publications.

Taylor, P. & Wallace, J. (2007) Contemporary qualitative research. [online]. Available at: books.google.co.zw/books?isbn= 1402059191[accessed 20 April 2009].

The Varsity (2014) Stem programs gender gap needs closing. Available at: the varsityca/2014/02/10/stem_programs_gendergap_needs_closing [accessed 24 July 2014].

•

REABOKA

•

ROLEVHUWA

• •

SIYABONGA TABOKA

•

TATENDA

•

THANK YOU