Abstract
Background: The gender disparity in engineering remains an unresolved problem, and this study investigates the role gender-career bias has on rural secondary school students and the impact that bias has on whether or not women decide to pursue a career in engineering.
Purpose: The study aims to identify any trends that exist in secondary school engineering students’ perception of gender roles and careers and to leverage this understanding to develop intentional instructional practices that would lead to improved recruitment and retention within engineering programs – specifically for women.
Design/Method: An instrumental case study foregrounded in the constructivist paradigm was used in this multiple methods study. Both quantitative and qualitative data analysis were used to interpret the data obtained from engineering students in a rural Midwestern high school.
Results: Four themes related to gender and career bias emerged: (1) Men and women have similar views regarding when it is acceptable for women to work yet different views on the purpose of a woman’s income; (2) The type of job one obtains should be based on qualifications and interest, though qualifications may differ by gender; (3) Women feel they can have any career they want, whereas men discuss women’s career potential with limiting factors; and (4) The type of household tasks/chores one performs should not be based on gender, but instead split in a way that works for each family.
Conclusions: The impact of this bias on women’s recruitment into engineering is discussed, and areas for improvement within engineering education are identified based on these results.
© 2026 Laine Schrewe, published by Virginia Tech Publishing
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.