Conditioning factors for the entry and permanence of female students and professors in the Electrical and Mechanical Engineering of the University of El Salvador. Design of actions for equality

Abstract

Historically, the presence of women in the field of the so called hard sciences has been limited, a situation that is explained by the prevalence and reproduction of the heteropatriarchal and macho system, which falls on women's bodies and determines their participation in public and private spaces. The University of El Salvador, founded since 1841, is the only public University in the country, engineering has been and continues to be historically occupied by men. The entry of women into electrical and mechanical engineering has been determined mainly by the social perception about these careers, originated in the family and has been reproduced in the educational system, where little has been done to break with the roles and gender stereotypes, which place women in tasks related to care. Women of the student and teaching fields, face challenges when being part of a space mainly of men, since the power relations that arise in the classroom or in the offices puts them at a disadvantage and exposes them to different expressions of violence, for example to situations of harassment and discrimination (it should be noted that this opinion is shared by the student sector, not by the teachers or the authorities, who make another reading). There are institutional limits that shortly contribute the entrance of more women to engineering, among them: absence of guidance on careers that break with the stigma of considering them as exclusivity for men; Institutional communication is sexist, language, symbols and messages contribute with the reproduction of roles and gender stereotypes; the process of curricular reform is not being used because, despite the task of defining women's rights, little progress has been made in mainstreaming the gender perspective in the study plans as well as in the awareness and training of the staff about that perspective.