Gender and Engineering

Conception
The purpose of the conference is the presentation and evaluation of recent research results on gender awareness in engineering. Distinguished European scholars will be sharing their experiences with international colleagues with whom they have been collaborating for the past 10 years. The conference is divided into three sections:
1. Increasing the appeal of engineering studies to women  The principal question discussed in the political arena is how to make engineering studies more attractive to women. In Germany, for instance, a number of initiatives have been undertaken with the aim of increasing the proportion of women in engineering studies, albeit with relatively little success
so far. This can largely be attributed to difficulties in assessing the success rates methodically and correctly. Apart from this methodical flaw, however, the main factor for the low turnout appears to be the strong male image of traditional engineering degree courses like civil, electrical and mechanical engineering, which results in heavily technically-oriented curricula and old-fashioned teaching methods. Since women commonly choose studies with an interdisciplinary profile, the one-sidedness of engineering studies is generally considered to be one key reason for the low percentage of female students in engineering, but not in every European country more interdisciplinary is wanted in the same amount and the same way.  2. Changing the perception of engineering professions
The Womeng and MOTIVATION projects have identified the lack of knowledge about professions in science and technology among teenagers as the key reason for the low quota of women in engineering studies. In the same vein, the views on these professions do not correspond with the self-perceptions of young women. So it is interesting to compare these views with professional facts. Therefore, one of the objectives of Womeng has been to investigate the professional work of female engineers as managers in industry.  3. Enhancing the management competencies of female engineers and building professional networks Female managers’ contact with engineering matters is generally marginal. Usually, and in contrast to their male counterparts, female managers engage in problem-solving or work in human resources. Likewise, women often lack particular, intercultural competencies which are of increasing importance in times of globalisation. Alongside these issues of a professional expertise which is yet to develop, the promotion of women in engineering careers largely hinges upon successful networking in the early stages of their careers. However, male-dominated networks often hinder the advance of women. Networking skills and possibilities are of equally high importance to research; this is an outcome of PROMETEA project which has been focussed on female engineers’ success conditions in research. Contact / Organisation
Prof. Dr. Felizitas Sagebiel
Faculty of Educational and Social Science
University of Wuppertal
Gaußstr. 20
42097 Wuppertal
Tel. +49 (0)202 / 439-2165
Fax +49 (0)202 / 439-3149
E-mail sagebiel@uni-wuppertal.de
Web www.fbg.uni-wuppertal.de/faecher/paedagogik/soz_sen/
sagebiel_home
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www.netzwerk-fgf.nrw.de