Edinburgh Napier University

  How does it feel to be in a gender minority on a STEM programme? Does it have an impact on individual students? Via an online survey (n=255), undergraduate students on Computing and Engineering programmes were asked whether they felt that gender had an impact on their experience of their course, inviting them to ‘tell us a little more’. While most students said that their gender did not have an impact, there was a significant difference between the experience of male and female students, and examples of impact were provided in response to the open question. Tackling gender imbalance in STEM is a focus of evolving government equality policies, including encouraging girls to consider careers in Computing and Engineering and supporting women STEM students. Universities need to explore how to support potentially isolated women students who may feel encouraged by their peers to discount any perception that their experience is gendered.