Gender in STEM Education in the Arab Gulf Countries

250 Pages·2023·4.751 MB·English

by  Martina Dickson, Melissa McMinn, Dean Cairns

Martina Dickson
Melissa McMinn
Dean Cairns   Editors
Gender in STEM
Education in
the Arab Gulf
Countries
Gender in STEM Education in the Arab Gulf
Countries
· ·
Martina Dickson Melissa McMinn Dean Cairns
Editors
Gender in STEM Education
in the Arab Gulf Countries
Editors
Martina Dickson Melissa McMinn
Emirates College for Advanced Education Open Polytechnic
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Lower Hutt, New Zealand
Dean Cairns
Emirates College for Advanced Education
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
ISBN 978-981-19-9134-9 ISBN 978-981-19-9135-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-9135-6
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Foreword
The long-standing, persistent and widespread gender disparity in relation to STEM
study is an important issue for STEM Educators. Despite numerous campaigns and
initiatives, and changes to policy and practice, gender imbalances still stubbornly
persist in most STEM fields of study, across age ranges and across most countries
and regions. If we look at Higher Education, the sector with which I am most familiar,
we can see that globally approximately a third of students enrolled in STEM study
are women (UNESCO, 2017). Gender seems to impact a subject choice even within
the STEM umbrella—for example, the global enrolment in ICT study by women is
3%, and in the natural sciences, mathematics and statistics it is 5% (ibid.).
Unsurprisingly, and as the chapters in this book expertly discuss, there has been
much research and scholarship attempting to investigate the reasons behind such stub-
bornly persistent gendered patterns. As many feminists have argued, there seems to
be a widespread social and cultural association of STEM fields with the mascu-
line—an association that influences students’ own choices as to gender ‘appro-
priate’ pathways; students’ perceptions of their own abilities and expertise in STEM;
and crucially influences the ways in which teachers, parents and mentors perceive
students’ ability and potential ‘fit’ into STEM fields, and thus the encouragement
and support given to students in pursuing such lines of study.
Nevertheless, there are also intriguing regional and national differences within this
overall picture. For example, women comprise 16% of natural sciences, mathematics
and statistics students in Côte D’Ivoire HE institutions—whereas in Bahrain the
figure is 86% (UNESCO, 2017). These wide differences speak to the importance
of understanding the social and cultural contexts of STEM Education in relation to
gender—as well as emphasising that gendered variations cannot be understood as the
result of ‘natural’ biological differences between two neatly categorised sexes—the
picture is a lot more complex.
As researchers we also need to do delve beyond the sometimes over-simplistic
numerical statistics regarding gender and STEM study, to explore in-depth the many
facets of influence and experience that contextualise students’ journeys into, within
and beyond STEM study (or the reasons why this journey is not undertaken). The
chapters in this volume are an excellent example of such scholarship, exploring the
v
vi Foreword
gendered dynamics of STEM education across different national contexts within the
Gulf region. The chapters employ a wide range of methodological tools to tease out
some of the intricate ways in which students’ and teachers’ perceptions are complexly
gendered, and the implications of this for finding ways to push through and beyond
persistent gender disparities in STEM in Gulf countries and beyond.
A number of chapter authors note that their research has been undertaken against
a backdrop of government investment and prioritisation of a knowledge-based
economy, and the role that STEM plays within this. This echoes the importance
given by national governments across the globe in investing in STEM—for reasons
of economic gain, but also at least partly in response to the role STEM and other disci-
plinary fields can play in combating key global difficulties such as the current and
potential future pandemics, and the potentially devastating impact of climate change.
To combat these challenges we need to know we are drawing on the best possible
pool of students and professionals educated in STEM, those who have embarked in
STEM because they—and others—have seen it as an appropriate choice regardless
of gender (and/or other aspects of identity such as ‘race’/ethnicity, socio-economic
background, age, or disability). It is a national and international concern if potential
students are discouraged from paths they would otherwise have taken. Indeed, it is
a matter of human rights for all individuals to be able to choose access to whatever
fields of education and employment they feel they can flourish in, speaking directly
to UN Sustainable Development Goals 4 and 5 on Quality Education and Gender
Equality, as well as contributing to SDG 8 on Decent Work and Economic Growth.
The scholarship in this book contributes to meeting these goals, covering a wide
range of sectors and foci, from elementary middle and high school students to
academic staff and STEM leaders—and across a range of contexts in this fasci-
nating region. The research in this book has much to offer academics, policymakers
and practitioners not only within the Gulf and MENA regions but also further afield.
At the time of writing the world continues to struggle with the Covid-19 pandemic,
highlighting the continued importance of ensuring equality and the greatest possible
diversity in our STEM fields across the globe. With its focus on implications for
education policy and practice, the chapters in this book are an important and welcome
contribution to our international knowledge in this area and a tool with which to
implement sustainable change.
March 2022 Dr. Barbara Read
Reader in Gender and Social
Inequalities
School of Education
University of Glasgow
Glasgow, Scotland
Preface
STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects are at the top of
most countries’ national agendas in terms of planning for future economies, invest-
ment in knowledge and development, industries, commerce, and innovative growth.
As each country grapples with the logistics around increasing the key performance
indicators (KPIs) related to STEM growth, each has at its foundation the critical need
for a future projection of a cadre of highly qualified, skilled human capital to work in
these industries in a sustainable way. Being able to offer this pool relies on having a
steady stream of motivated and competent graduates from STEM degrees in tertiary
institutions, and this in turn relies upon a steady flow of students from secondary
schools who make the decision to follow those pathways. Attitudes towards STEM
subjects are often formed early on, and for that reason, how students think and feel
about learning these subjects at both the primary and secondary educational level is
important. Not to say that these attitudes and efficacies are totally unmalleable, but
they are often powerful indicators of future behaviours, and so STEM attitudes and
learning experiences are important at each stage of the educational journey. We also
know that gender imbalance and inequities in representation persist at each stage
of this educational journey, from attitudes and efficacies, to equitable representation
later in the STEM workplace.
The motivation for compiling and writing this book, came about as a result of many
hours of discussion among the editorial team about a variety of aspects of STEM, and
through collaborative research based both on empirical and secondary data projects.
The commonality though was that as researchers in our current geographical loca-
tion (the United Arab Emirates, positioned in the middle of the Arabian Gulf) we
often experienced a lack of research specifically looking at gender issues in STEM
education in this region. While many of the patterns and challenges faced in the Gulf
region are not dissimilar to those faced by countries in other parts of the world, the
particular nuances of culture, geographical context, history, and traditions also has
an important role to play in the way in which STEM is taught, received, and perpet-
uated. So, the idea of creating our own book to fill this literature chasm, developed
from there.
vii
viii Preface
Our book begins with three chapters that focus upon STEM beliefs and identity,
given what is already well known and understood in the research literature about the
critical effect of these on a number of factors, including student achievement and
science career aspiration. Chapter 1 discusses ways in which STEM subjects have
historically been perceived as being ‘boys’ subjects in many contexts, and presents
data which indicates that in the GCC region, these attitudes (such as confidence
in and value of, science) may be changing. Stereotypical beliefs that science and
other STEM-related subjects are for boys, based on an out-dated, but persistent,
notion that boys are innately better than girls at these subjects, are discussed. This
leads into Chap. 2, which examines scientific epistemological beliefs—the nature
and acquisition of science knowledge; how these beliefs impact males and females,
their associated beliefs about learning, and their science achievement. Chapter 2
ends with a section on what the implications of these findings might be to classroom
practice and methodologies. As the final chapter in this first section of the book,
Chapter 3 showcases empirical data of drawings of scientists using the methodology
of the famous ‘DAST’—Draw a Scientist Test—but specifically analyses drawings of
female scientists which girls in the United Arab Emirates have drawn. The chapter
presents data on the differences between the genders of the scientists which boys
and girls tend to draw, and then focuses in on the specific characteristics of scientists
which girls draw. Implicit in this analysis is at last a part-assumption that the drawings
may indicate perceptions of not only what scientists look like, the kinds of work they
do, the characteristics they appear to have, but also who scientists tend to be.
So, the first section of our book delves into science beliefs and identity, and
possible implications of such beliefs and identity to the ways in which students
interact with science as a school subject, and consequently consider science as a
career possibility. This then flows into the second section of the book, where atti-
tudes towards, and understanding of, two other components of STEM, mathematics
and technology, are explored. This section considers a variety of students’ outcomes
that can impact, and be impacted by, STEM learning. Chapters 4 and 5 examine
attitudes and anxiety, respectively, towards mathematics, and considers the relation-
ship of these to the learning environment. Chapter 4 explores the possibly altering
perceptions that middle school girls in the UAE may have towards learning mathe-
matics, and Chap. 5 follows on from this with an in-depth exploration of mathematics
anxiety in females—the causes and extent of this, and what practices, strategies and
policies could potentially be put into place to break this cycle of anxiety leading
to non-engagement. Chapter 6 investigates the motivational and behavioural char-
acteristics important for ICT literacy. The final chapter in this section (Chapter 7)
explores a critical issue of our day—whether the future adult citizens of the Gulf coun-
tries are well-informed of environmental issues, and whether a gender difference in
understanding of environmental issues in the Gulf exists.
In the third section of the book, the two final chapters look at the experiences and
representation of women in STEM educational phases, both as receivers/participants
and as providers of STEM education. Chapter 8 charts the narrative journeys of
female leaders in STEM fields, looking specifically at their educational journeys
through school and university, their experiences, influences and factors leading to
Preface ix
their positions of success. Finally, Chapter 9 culminates the book’s narrative on all of
the factors which could potentially lead to gendered imbalance within STEM fields
in the Gulf region. It presents analysis of staffing data in STEM departments in higher
education institutions in the UAE, which also serves as a microcosmic reflection of
the status in the Gulf region, and uses this to draw out possible explanations for
the relatively low representation of women in these fields, and outlines the possible
consequences of this to other women in the field.
It is hoped that the reader will benefit from the holistic nature of this book,
which encompasses gendered differences and experiences across a wide variety of
educational sectors, STEM components, and contexts.
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Martina Dickson
Lower Hutt, New Zealand Melissa McMinn
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Dean Cairns
Contents
Part I STEM Beliefs and Identity
1 ‘Science is a Boys’ Subject’—Changing Perceptions
in the Arabian Gulf ............................................. 3
Melissa McMinn
2 Epistemological Beliefs About Science and Their Relations
to Gender, Attitudes to Science and Science Achievement
in UAE Schools ................................................ 31
Dean Cairns
3 The Drawing a Scientist Test (DAST): How Do Girls in the UAE
Present Visual Characteristics of Female Scientists, and What
Does This Mean for Gender Equity of Science Careers? ............ 61
Martina Dickson and Melissa McMinn
Part II Attitudes and Understanding in STEM
4 Changing Perceptions of the Learning Environment
and Attitudes Towards Mathematics Through Inquiry-Based
Learning: Girls in Middle School Classrooms in the UAE .......... 85
Jennifer Robinson and Jill Aldridge
5 Mathematics Anxiety in Females—Breaking the Cycle ............. 119
Melissa McMinn
6 Gender Differences in ICT Literacy: ICT-Related Individual
Characteristics and Enabling Factors ............................ 153
Ieda M. Santos and Shaljan Areepattamannil
7 Understanding of Environmental Issues Across Two Gulf
Countries: Do Girls Know More Than Boys in UAE Schools? ....... 173
Dean Cairns
xi