STEM students’ perceptions of self-efficacy for a gender equality practiceA cross-cultural study

Resumen

The equal value of women and men in all spheres of life known as gender equality is a fundamental human right, essential to build peaceful and equitable societies. Gender equality has been promoted by the United Nations by adopting international agreements which involve mainstreaming gender at all levels of policies and programs in which education has been regarded as the main vehicle to achieve this goal. In STEM education, great imbalances in awareness of gender inequalities and in gender competence exist. Therefore, the current study aimed (1) to cross-culturally validate the TEGEP scale across country and sex, and (2) compare cross-culturally Greek and Spanish university students’ perceptions of gender self-efficacy for a gender-sensitive future practice. The participants were 205 STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) university students (136 Greek and 69 Spanish) in their last year of study seeking a degree in secondary education (n = 98 science, 18 technology, 12 engineering, and 77 math) and drawn from seven public universities (six Greek, one Spanish). Results are discussed in terms of identified needs for study programs’ curricular reform.