Women in technology-oriented fields

Abstract

This study focuses on investigating the main elements that have an effect on women’s decisions to enter a career in technology-oriented fields, and more specifically, to discover whether studying crafts, especially technical work, during basic education affects their decisions in this context. The study was carried out using a semi-structured questionnaire, and the data consist of the responses from 12 female technology education teachers and 12 female engineering students. A qualitative theory oriented content analysis was carried out through identifying, coding, analysing and reporting the patterns within the data. The findings revealed that the most influential career anchor identified by all these women was a technical or functional competence. Secondly, their familiarity with the field was a relatively important element. These findings suggest some positive perspectives on women’s interests in technology-oriented career paths, and indicating that supportive interventions can be implemented.