Lucija Krusic, Barbara Schuppler, Martin Hagmüller, Kopeinik Simone
2021
Gender representation in Austrian EFL schoolbooks and university viewbooks
STS Conference 2020 Graz
Due to recent advances in digitalisation and an emergence of new technologies, the STEM job market is further growing. This leads to higher salaries and lower unemployment rates. Despite these advantages, a pressing economic need for qualified STEM personal and many initiatives for increasing interest in STEM subjects, Austrian technical universities have consistently had issues with recruiting engineering students. Particularly women remain strongly underrepresented in STEM careers. Possible causes of this gender gap can be found in the effects of stereotype threat and the influence of role models, as stereotypical representations affect young people in various phases of their personal and professional development. As a part of the project proposal “Gender differences in career choices: Does the language matter?“, we investigated gender biases that potential students of Austrian STEM universities might face, and conducted two pilot studies: i) the analysis of EFL textbooks used in Austrian high schools, and ii) viewbooks used as promotional material for Austrian universities. EFL (English as a foreign language) textbooks are often used in teaching. We consider them as particularly relevant, since each of these books includes a dedicated section on careers. In the course of the first pilot study, we conducted a content analysis of eight textbooks for gender biases of personas in the context of careers and jobs. While results point to a nearly equal distribution of male and female personifications i.e., we found 9% more male characters, they were, however, not equally distributed among the different careers. Female personas were commonly associated with traditionally female careers (“stay-at-home mom”, “housewife”), which can be classified as indoor and domestic, while male personas tended to be associated with more prestigious, outdoor occupations (“doctor”, “police officer”). STEM occupations were predominantly (80%) associated with the male gender. Thus, the analysis of the Austrian EFL textbooks clearly points to the existence of gender stereotyping and gender bias as to the relationship of gender and career choice. In the second pilot study, we analyzed the symbolic portrayal of gender diversity in 52 Austrian university viewbooks, one for each bachelor programme at five Universities covering fields such as STEM, economy and law. As part of the analysis, we compared the representations of male and female students and professors with the actual student and faculty body. Results show a rather equal numeric gender representation in the non- technical university viewbooks but not in those of technical universities analysed. The comparison to real-life students’ gender distribution, revealed instances of underrepresentation of the male student body and overrepresentation of the female student body in technical university viewbooks (e.g., 15.4% underrepresentation of male students and 15.3% overrepresentation of female students in TUGraz viewbooks). We consider this a positive finding, as we believe that a diverse and gender neutral representation of people in educational and career information materials has the potential to entice a desired change in prospective students’ perception towards STEM subjects and engineering sciences.