Essay On Gender Equality In Education

Introduction

Although many are trying to encourage gender equality in different aspects, it is still a goal that is hard to achieve. Occupations and careers were always gender biased in society, where men and women each have their own traditional jobs, and those that differ from them were considered minority and were underrepresented by colleagues and society. For a long time now, women that are in STEM1 fields, as a profession or major in university, were belittled and given no importance. Also, engineering being perceived as a "masculine" job, made it unsuitable for females [1]. In UK, a research showed that women’s access to HE2 in general has increased significantly, from 32% in 1972 to 55% in 2008,it can be seen that women’s participation

According to article [1] , this progress of women entering engineering programmes might be a result of the general growth trend of women in HE. It has been denied that there is a difference in the academic abilities and interest of females in STEM[3]. Few Studies showed that the gap in math ability between genders were greater in regions where gender inequality is larger [4].

The aim of this paper is to provide an insight to the factors that affect females decision in choosing their major and career, obstacles that they face in their STEM workplaces, strategies that they follow to adapt in their workplace, and some of the perceptions that people have on women and STEM, through the cited research articles [1]–[5].

Students and STEM Fields : Influences

The decision of students, both females and males, in choosing a college major is affected greatly by many factors, which are mainly gender-related . Social and cultural factors, interest, family and peers, myths, school teachings, and perceptions all influence students' view of

Women are constructed socially as the "other", having them as the opposite of men because of the "dualism of masculinity and femininity" [1]. Moreover, motivation, self confidence, and "sense of belonging" that women should feel, contribute to the performance the ability of coping in these areas of female students; as article [3] stated," despite equal or higher levels of achievement, female college students in STEM feel more isolated and intimidated than their male counterparts and have lower self-confidence than men in these settings" [3]. Also, article [1] reasoned that women tendency to stay away from technology is not due to their deficiency in " abstract thinking", but due to the masculine dominate atmosphere that it constructs [1]