Gender Preferences in Technology Student Association Competitions

Significantly fewer female students are enrolling in technology education courses compared with males. According to Sanders (2001), female enrollment in the U.S. was determined to be almost half (46.2%) technology education enrollment in middle school, but fell dramatically in high school to less than one-fifth (17.7%). Data from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (2004-2005) showed that only 8.6% of females who enrolled in Exploring Technology Systems in Middle School elected to take the freshmen level technology education course, Fundamentals of Technology (see Table 1).