Perception of Lebanese middle school students about engineering

Abstract

In a male-dominated Middle Eastern society, female academics and professionals have come a long way in recent decades, challenging long-held stereotypes about women holding careers in fields of science and technology. Despite these gains, however, female enrollment in Lebanese engineering programs remains low-less than a quarter of all engineering students, according to a recent study. The current research, at the Lebanese American University (LAU), assesses the reasons that are possibly discouraging female students from pursuing engineering careers while targeting to make a step towards improving female representation. Encouraging female students to pursue careers in engineering requires an understanding of what young female students already know about the field, as well as recognizing what might spur their interest in choosing engineering professions over the more traditionally female-populated fields of literature and humanities. As a first step, a school survey was conducted to investigate and assess the current knowledge of female middle school students about engineering, with special emphasis on civil engineering. The main focus of the school survey was to identify the level of awareness of career alternatives, gender-related restrictions, parental guidance, social factors, and cultural factors that might affect the career choice. This paper summarizes the results of the survey and analyses the main factors that may help in encouraging women to join engineering schools.