Working with Men to Change the Culture of Engineering Education

Using the example of sex based harassment, this paper outlines a set of key principles for working with men to change the culture of engineering. We refer to three groups of men: male engineering staff, male engineering students, and pro-feminist men whose work has taken place outside engineering. This paper builds on our previously reported research examining dominant masculine cultures in engineering faculties and the way in which female and male students respond to these cultures. The assumption underlying our work is that we need to understand the social construction of engineering culture and its link to contemporary ideas of narrow and rigid versions of masculinity if we are to make further progress in increasing the participation of women in engineering.