Gender differences in professional identities and development of engineering skills among early career engineers in Finland

Abstract

Formation of professional identity is a process where individuals attempt to bring together the social expectations set for them as professionals and their own interests and values. The cultural landscape of engineering is masculine in various ways, which can be challenging especially for female engineers who need to match the cultural expectations with their personal identities. So far, few studies have compared the professional identities of early-career men and women engineers. This study aims to understand the professional identities of newly graduated Finnish male and female engineers by analysing their perceptions of the importance and development of professional engineering skills. An analysis of cross-sectional survey data of more than 4000 early-career engineers suggests some gender differences related to professional identities and indicates that the observed differences in values and perceived skills can put women at a greater risk of dropping out of an engineering career.