The contribution of gender segregated secondary education on the progression to engineering

Abstract

ABSTRACT The lack of female participation in engineering education and careers is a barrier to equality and the various economic benefits of a diverse workforce. The causes of gender inequality in engineering should be determined in order to design and implement appropriate remedial measures. This research determines the rate of single-sex high school attendance across genders in student enrolments at the University of Canterbury, College of Engineering between 2005 and 2017 (n = 5992). A psychology cohort (n = 11,698) was used as a comparator. The weighted average rate of female, single-sex high school attendance in engineering was 56.0% of all female students in engineering. This is 4.3x larger than the national average rate of 11.3%. In contrast, the male engineering, and both genders in psychology had a single-sex high school attendance rate of ~35.0%. Notably, the engineering disciplines that had low female participation had the highest rates of single-sex high school attendance. Hence, either single-sex girls’ high schools are effectively encouraging female participation in engineering or co-educational schools are failing to effectively encourage female participation in engineering. This research shows strong bias in a key educational goal across educational strategies, and may enable location of the origin of gender inequality in engineering education.