Gender Preferences in Technology Student Association Competitions

Overview & Synopsis

Society is increasingly dominated by rapidly evolving systems of technology. The goal of technology education, as an academic component of public education, is to ensure that students become "technologically literate" members of society who are able to understand, access, use, manage, and control these technological systems. Significantly fewer female students are enrolling in technology education courses compared with males. According to Sanders, female enrollment in the U.S. was determined to be almost half (46.2%) technology education enrollment in middle school, but fell dramatically in high school to less than one-fifth (17.7%). Data from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (2004-2005) showed that only 8.6% of females who enrolled in Exploring Technology Systems in Middle School elected to take the freshmen level technology education course, Fundamentals of Technology. This study focuses on the impact of male bias in the classrooms of North Carolina on female social status and on technology education, and offers suggestions on how to achieve gender equity in technology education. (Contains 6 tables.)