Abstract:

This abstract presents a work in progress investigating the barriers that are preventing women from studying engineering. Rethinking Engineering Education in Ireland (REEdI) will explore a number of approaches to support diversity and inclusion, to encourage a greater uptake by underrepresented groups and to retain people in the engineering sector. REEdI is a project focusing on the delivery of Engineering Education via a delivery methodology incorporating state-of-the-art immersive technologies, online adaptive learning and significant work placement. As part of the REEdI project, a new programme proposal titled, “Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering” has been developed. A key aspect of the REEdI project is to address the shortage of engineering graduates that our rapidly changing manufacturing sector is experiencing. Diversity in the workplace is a challenge many employers in Ireland and Internationally alike have been trying to solve, particularly with the evidence that a diverse workforce results in higher productivity and better innovation. Women continue to be underrepresented in third level engineering constituting just 16% of engineering graduates. Based on this, there is a need to encourage more women to study engineering. Achieving this and moving the status quo towards one of balance will not only ensure access to a larger cohort of engineering graduates to meet the needs of industry but it will also lead to a more diverse talent pool. The REEdI strategy aims to encourage active participation of women in Engineering. There is a need for a much larger and more diverse workforce and it has never been more important to address the barriers that are preventing women studying engineering at third level and to further encourage them to pursue a career in engineering.

We will investigate the current underrepresentation in engineering, identify root causes for this underrepresentation, focusing on influencing factors that may be contributing at pre school, primary, post primary and higher level education. We will explore the stereotypes that exist and assess if they are contributing to barriers. We will benchmark Industry, looking at the policies that have been put in place to encourage more women to remain in engineering. On conclusion, we will evaluate the success of such policies and their potential for application in education to address the balance.

Keywords:

Diverse workforce, diversity and inclusion, stereotypes, underrepresentation in engineering, women in engineering.