Rethinking Gender Inclusion in Course Curricula: Opening Pandora’s Box in STEM Education

<italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Contribution:</i> This research examines undergraduate students’ perceptions in engineering disciplines toward gender inclusivity in course curricula, focusing on three essential pillars of curricular design: course content, teaching methodology, and course assessment. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Background:</i> The shortage of women representation in STEM fields, particularly in engineering, poses a developmental challenge for economies, especially in developing countries transitioning to the knowledge economy. While multiple factors likely influence women’s participation in engineering, this study focuses specifically on how men-centric engineering curricula affect differently male and female students’ satisfaction and perceptions of their educational experience. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Research Questions:</i> 1) How do perceptions of gender inclusivity in engineering curricula differ between women and men students across the three pillars of course content, teaching methodology, and assessment processes? 2) How do students’ perceptions of gender inclusivity in engineering curricula change as they progress through their studies, and do these changes differ between genders? <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Methodology:</i> The study focuses on Kazakhstan, a country with industrial development and gender diversity issues in engineering despite overall gender parity in its scientific workforce. It utilizes a quantitative approach, incorporating a curriculum-focused survey and inferential statistical tests. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Findings:</i> The findings reveal gender differences in perceptions of the three curriculum pillars. As students progress through their studies, women’s satisfaction with the curricula significantly deteriorates over time, while men’s satisfaction remains relatively stable. While these findings suggest curricular factors may influence women’s experiences in engineering education, further research is needed to understand the interplay between curricular aspects and other influences, such as societal factors and institutional environments.