Two short sessions raised grades for women in engineering majors with few women

The study

1. 01

   Who took part

   228 first-year engineering students at one Canadian university, 92 of them women. They chose to take part. Most results are for women in male-dominated majors, where fewer than one in five students were women.

2. 02

   What they did

   Students had one 45 to 60 minute classroom session. One message said early worries about fitting in fade with time; the other said to draw strength from things they value. Both asked students to write about it in their own words; the other group got unrelated material or only questionnaires.

3. 03

   What happened

   Compared with the other group, women in these majors got grades about 11 points higher, closing the gap with men. Men showed no change. In majors with more women, the only change was an unexpected grade drop for affirmation-session women, which the authors read cautiously.

What the study found

1. HelpedGoals

   Women in majors with few women who did either session got better grades than the other women did.

   • Action: Challenge unhelpful thoughtstested
   • Action: Clarify what matters to youtested

   Randomised trial of 228 first-year engineering students, women in male-dominated majors · vs women who did an unrelated session · behaviour was recorded

2. HelpedMotivation

   Right after, women in these majors felt better about engineering than the rest.

   • Action: Challenge unhelpful thoughtstested
   • Action: Clarify what matters to youtested

   Randomised trial of 228 first-year engineering students, women in male-dominated majors · vs women who did an unrelated session · behaviour was recorded

3. HelpedOther outcomes

   Over 12 days, women in majors with few women felt more able to cope with school stress than other women.

   • Action: Challenge unhelpful thoughtstested
   • Action: Clarify what matters to youtested

   Randomised trial of 228 first-year engineering students, women in male-dominated majors · vs women who did an unrelated session · behaviour was recorded

Source