| Karen Bradley
Western Washington University
Gendered pipelines: A cross-national study of sex segregation in engineering and computer science fields of study
FINAL REPORT:
Although female enrollment in higher education has increased dramatically throughout the world, women remain significantly underrepresented in engineering programs. We examine cultural and structural factors influencing the gender composition of engineering programs in 44 countries. Our results suggest that different causal processes are at work within more and less economically developed countries. Cultural factors (i.e., girls's attitudes toward mathematics, and exposure to macro-cultural norms of gender-egalitarianism) are better predictors of female representation in engineering in advanced industrial societies, while structural factors (i.e., economic modernization and tertiary system size) are more important in less economically developed countries. We argue that universalistic mandates for gender egalitarianism within higher education have been addressed through creation of female occupational and educational Òghettos,Ó which contribute to the generation of gender-specific career preferences and aspirations among adolescents. The relative material security and the self-expressive value systems prevailing in modern ÒpostmaterialistÓ societies allow for the realization of such gender-specific aspirations, despite the substantial economic costs of such choices.
In educational environments increasingly structured around maximizing student choice, researchers and policymakers must pay more careful attention to the context in which programmatic choices unfold. In advanced industrial countries, where attitudes toward math and science are strong predictors of female programmatic distributions, efforts should be undertaken to identify normative messages that may be permeating formal and informal school curricula about womenÕs and men's roles in society and about the nature of scientific and technical careers. Greater emphasis on the value of science to society by educational administrators and policymakers may help increase women's interest in scientific and technical careers and programs of study. In less developed countries, attention should be paid to the ways in which growth of higher education is achieved. If educational policymakers in these countries follow the lead of their counterparts in the ÒpostindustrialÓ world, the development and expansion of educational ÒnichesÓ for women may help generate gender-specific career aspirations and thus contribute to declining female representation in technical fields.
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