Research: Next Generation Engineers: Examining the Pathways of Adolescent Females in SWENext

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Despite the increase in women's representation over the past few decades in many occupations that are both high-status and high-income, such as medicine and law, relatively few women enter engineering majors and occupations. At best, engineering remains approximately 80% male, which is particularly concerning given the national need for more engineers. Prior studies have found that one of the major roadblocks to increasing women's representation in engineering is the fact that compared to boys, girls express very low levels of interest in engineering from early ages, and ultimately are unlikely to choose to pursue engineering majors in college despite having strong educational backgrounds in math and science. Therefore, the factors that likely discourage girls' interest in engineering appear social and psychological in nature, rather than academic. To examine these factors in detail, this unique study will follow a large group of high school girls who have already expressed an interest in engineering, with the goal of understanding how the support of adults and peers in their lives, as well as girls' own views about gender roles, influence whether or not they remain interested in the field and ultimately choose an engineering major in college. By shedding light on the factors that support girls' pursuit of engineering, as well as those that function as deterrents, valuable insight can be gathered that can then be leveraged to better support a larger population of girls and young women to enter into engineering. Specifically, this project is a research collaboration between the University of Texas and the Society for Women Engineers that follows a purposive sample of high school girls participating in SWENext, an organization dedicated to identifying and supporting young women interested in engineering. This study will employ a mixed-methods approach; the quantitative component will follow a sample of approximately 700-900 girls over a period of three years (as they transition from high school into college) via online surveys, while a qualitative component will similarly follow a longitudinal sample of 30 girls over time with in-depth interviews. This project will address several aims that will extend the research on inequality in engineering and STEM fields in important ways. First, the study will examine the gender identity of SWENext members, to shed light on how these young women view their own gender and make sense of prevailing gender norms and roles. Second, it will examine whether and how peers and adults provide support and encouragement for SWENext members' interest in engineering, recognizing the array of peers (e.g. friends, classmates, extra-curricular participants, and online peers) and adults (e.g. parents and teachers) that girls interact with, and considering the potential for conflicting messages, as some are likely supportive of girls' non-normative interests at the same time that others negatively sanction such interests. Further, the research team will examine whether support is more available or impactful when it comes from same-gender sources. The final aim of the study is to examine how these factors help shape girls' decision to declare an engineering major in college, as well as their engineering-related self-efficacy and identity. In addressing these three broad aims, the research team employs an intersectional lens to examine how girls' views, experiences, and outcomes differ by racial/ethnic background. Results of the project will be widely disseminated to academic research audiences, as well as educational practitioners and stakeholders in engineering and industry who share the goal of increasing the representation of females in engineering.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.