A Case Study of Gender and Academic Major Differences in Extracurricular Activities in the Context of a Gender-Equity Change

The present study examined extracurricular activities through the lens of female and male undergraduate students’ participation, engagement, and academic attainment. It focused on an underrepresented population of undergraduate students whose country has only recently implemented gender-equity laws, overshadowing a long-standing patriarchal system that curtailed education and employment opportunities for women. Participants were 1,424 undergraduate students who attended extracurricular events offered during an entire semester. Participants included both male and female learners who were pursuing either a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) or a non-STEM degree. Students were surveyed at the end of each event they attended to measure their cognitive, affective, and behavioral engagement. In this study, female participants were more likely to partake in extracurricular activities and displayed higher cognitive engagement than males. There were no gender differences in affective and behavioral engagement. However, for females only, behavioral engagement was higher among STEM than among non-STEM learners. For both sexes, academic attainment, as measured by GPA (grade point average), was modestly correlated with cognitive engagement. These findings may reflect women’s struggle to emerge as reliable members of the workforce within a social fabric that is adjusting to their country’s recent gender-equity changes in educational and professional fields.