Research On Gender Inequality In Higher Engineering Education And Its Countermeasures From The Feminist Perspective

Discussing the gender inequality faced by female college students in the process of receiving higher engineering education is a realistic issue of talent cultivation in the construction of "new subjects".The research on it has important theoretical value and practical guiding significance.Using self-designed questionnaires and interview syllabus,this paper conducts a questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews with 513 senior students majoring in engineering in three representative engineering colleges(X,Y,Z)in Wuhan.Through the survey,it is found that higher engineering education shows gender inequality in three aspects: access to school,educational process and educational results.In terms of admission opportunities,only 32.43% of female engineering students chose their major out of their personal interest in engineering,and their motivation for admission was less autonomous than that of male students.At the same time,only 17.91% of female students were interested in their major before entering university,and their initial interest in the major was lower than that of male students.In terms of education process,59.44% of female engineering students are facing academic pressure because of the masculine engineering value orientation.Moreover,female engineering students occupy a smaller advantage than male students in practical courses.At the same time,teachers interact more with male students in the teaching process than female students,and textbooks also reflect male hegemony.In terms of educational results,the direct employment rate of Engineering girls is lower than that of boys,and 19.48% of them encounter gender discrimination in employment.In addition,their confidence in their future professional work is lower than that of boys.Only 38.59% of the girls have confidence in their future employment.Based on the feminist viewpoint,this paper uses feminist gender equality,gender cultural construction,patriarchy and gender differences to analyze the above-mentioned gender inequality in Higher Engineering education.Finally,the factors affecting gender inequality in higher engineering education are analyzed from three aspects: schools,teachers and students.Schools: Learning influences gender equality in a subtle way through cultural environment,teaching system and educational content.Teachers: Teachers' education style is an important factor affecting gender equality.Student side: Students' gender awareness is the subjective factor affecting gender equality.On the basis of the above analysis,this study puts forward the optimization countermeasures to promote higher engineering education towards gender equality from the three levels of school,teacher and student.The countermeasures at the school level are: optimizing the campus environment and creating a harmonious campus cultural atmosphere between the sexes;innovating the teaching mode and practice mode of engineering education to give full play to women's unique advantages;improving the evaluation mechanism of teachers to enhance teachers' gender awareness;innovating gender education curriculum in universities to realize the role of gender education for students.At the teacher level,there are two main countermeasures: to strengthen teachers' self-learning of gender knowledge,to enhance gender awareness;to standardize teachers' behavior and behavior,and to set good gender role models for students.At the student level(especially for engineering girls),the following countermeasures can be taken: to cultivate the comprehensive abilities of Engineering girls,to enhance their competitiveness and autonomy;to enhance women's legal awareness,and to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests.