From Career Choice to Degree Completion: Experiences of Engineering Colombian Women

Authors

  • María Alejandra Acosta Electronics Engineer. Research Group InGenias. School of Engineering. Pontificia Universidad Javeriana.
  • Martha L Cano-Morales Assistant Professor. Research Group InGenias & MIEI. School of Engineering. Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogota. Colombia
  • Eduardo Rodriguez-Mejia Partial time Professor. Research Group InGenias & MIEI. School of Engineering. Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogota. Colombia
  • Jairo Alberto Hurtado Full Professor. Research Group InGenias & MIEI. School of Engineering. Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogota. Colombia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.16920/jeet/2026/v39i4/26110

Keywords:

Women in engineering, career choice, academic settings, barriers, motivations

Abstract

Governments and global organizations have long called for action to address gender disparities in engineering. Despite these efforts, women's representation in engineering colleges and the workforce remains consistently low worldwide, with only about 20% of engineering degrees earned by women, and a mere 11% of engineers in the labor market being women. There is a need to delve deeper into women's experiences in the engineering field to understand where we fall short in attracting and retaining them. The primary goal of the work described in this paper is to contribute to the existing literature on women's experiences in engineering in Latin America by examining the experiences of female alumni and senior students at the College of Engineering at Javeriana University in Colombia. Our study involved a cross-sectional survey of 292 women, encompassing both close-ended and open-ended questions about their motivations, sources of support, challenges, and discouragements they encountered while pursuing their engineering studies at a large private university in Colombia. Through this research, we found the general situations these women encountered in choosing their careers and subsequently navigating an academic environment where they were a distinct minority.

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Published

2026-04-30

How to Cite

Acosta, M. A., Cano-Morales, M. L., Rodriguez-Mejia, E., & Hurtado, J. A. (2026). From Career Choice to Degree Completion: Experiences of Engineering Colombian Women. Journal of Engineering Education Transformations, 39(4), 90–98. https://doi.org/10.16920/jeet/2026/v39i4/26110

Issue

Volume 39, Issue 4, April 2026

Section

Articles
Crossref
Scopus
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Europe PMC

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