47Does What You Study Matter? Comparison of Career Aspirations Between Female Students in Arts and Science Str eams in the UAE’s Higher Educational InstitutionsWoo hyang SimKeywords：STEM education, Educational aspirations, Career prospects, UAE women, Women in STEM, Arab women education【Abstract】This paper analyzes the differ ence in educational and car eer aspirations of female Emirati students in the ‘ar ts’ str eams and ‘science’ str eams in various higher education institutions in the United Arab Emirates （UAE）. Globally, women ar e under-represented in STEM subjects at al l le vels of sc hooling. However , in the United Arab Emirates,56% of gover nment university graduates in STEM fields are women （Rizvi,2018）. Given the country differ ences in women on STEM education, Stoet and Geary （2018） pr esents the educational-gender-equality parado x, which demonstrates that women fr om countries with lo w le vels of gender equality ar e likely to enter STEM fields in higher education due to the lo wer economic stability and job securit y of the society. On the other hand, the case of the Gulf countries – particularly the UAE – the phenomenon begs the question of ‘why so many’ instead of ‘why so few’, given the gr eat economic stability and job securit y for Emirati nationals due to rentier social contract and strong labor nationalization policies.To better understand how female Emirati students’ education choices shape their educational and car eer aspirations, a mixed-methods approa ch to tr iangulate interview data with survey data was employed. First, an online questionnaire was distributed fr om January-October 2016 through snowball sampling method in Arabic.Data collected fr om 161 UAE female nationals between 15 and 30 years old wer e analyzed by SPSS. In-depth four semi-structured interviews conducted in the UAE in 2016. This study found that Emirati female students in both ar ts and science str eams did not show a signific ant differ ence in their educational and car eer aspirations. Al l students reported having a str ong desire to obtain advanced degrees regardless of their academic str eams. In addition, the interviewed students in both ar ts and science tr acks la cked co ncrete knowledge about their own job pr ospects and car eer options available for them in various industries.This study il lustrates that fa ctors such as educational and car eer aspirations of Emirati women ar e cr ucial fa ctors to understand and provide a wel l-r ounded perspective on the unique educational phenomena occurring in the UAE.IntroductionGlobally, women ar e under-represented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics （STEM） subjects at al l le vels of sc hooling （Burke & Mattis,2007）. According to a 2017 UNESCO report on girls’ and women’s STEM education, onl y 35% of STEM students in higher education brought to you by COREView metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.ukprovided by Waseda University Repository
48早稲田教育評論 第35巻第１号globally ar e women （UNESCO, 2017）. In the case of the United States, a country of ten thought to be the global leader in the technology industry, the female share of al l STEM gr aduates onl y remained at 35.5% in 2016（National Science Board, Science & Engineering Indicators,2018）. Similarly, onl y 15.1% of engineering undergraduates in the United Kingdo m （UK） wer e women in 2015, while the pr oportion of female students studying engineering and physics has remained virtually static since 2012（National Centre for Universities and Business,2015）. Moreo ver , the results fr om the Programme for International Student Assessment （PISA）2015 revealed that girls wer e more likely to be anxious about mathematics in more than 80% of the countries surveyed, which was double the gender differ ence in mathematics perfor mance （Stoet & Geary, 2013）. The issue of female underrepresentation in STEM subjects has emerged as one of the most pr essing issues in global education, as countries globally shift their attention fr om meeting basic educational thresholds to achieving gr eater educational equity acr oss various demograp hics.It is also wor th examining the la ck of female representation in STEM fr om a br oa der socioeconomic lens. Stoet and Geary （2018）, in their study on why STEM fields lack women, presents the educational-gender-equality parado x, which demonstrates that women fr om countries with high le vels of gender equality ar e less likely to enter STEM fields in higher education, while the opposite is tr ue for women fr om countries with lo w le vels of gender equality. They argue that less gender-equal countries tend to offer lo wer economic stability and job securit y, which may incentivize more female students to pursue higher-paying STEM occupations as a means to in vest in a more secure future （Stoet & Geary, 2018）. “Reversed” Gender Gap in STEM in the UAEOn the contrary, more gender-equal countri es offer a more stable platform for students to explore and pursue an aca demic path of their interest rather than out of economic necessity. This educa tional-gender-equality paradox is particularly pronounced in Arab countri es such as the UAE and Qatar, which are considered to have lower lev els of gender equality. On one hand, some countri es are beginning to pay greater attention to allev iate this gender imbalance. But on the other hand, some countri es have already achiev ed moderate success in representing more women in STEM subjects. In fact, there has been increased attention given to women in STEM in the Arab world. According to the data gathered by UNESCO Institute of Statistics （UIS）, 34-57% of STEM grads in Arab countri es are women, which is much higher than the US （35%） or Europe （18%）. Especially in the ca se of the UAE, the average percentage of female students in STEM fields amounted to 63% in2015（Islam, 2017）, which is high ev en when compared to other GCC countri es like Saudi Arabia （39%） and Bahrain （46%）（UIS, 2018）. Moreo ver , 56% of gover nment university graduates in STEM fields are women （Rizvi,2018）. Despite this relativel y high female participation rate in STEM subjects, the UAE co ntinues to suffer fr om a serious disconnect between educational outcomes and employment, where students do not translate their educational outcomes into tangible employment outcomes （Ridge , 2014; Author, 2016）. Thanks to its oil-ric h sources, the UAE gover nment offers secure and lucrative public sector jobs
49Does What You Study Matter? Comparison of Career Aspirations Between Female Students in Arts and Science Str eams in the UAE’s Higher Educational Institutionsto its citizens, with 77% of wor king Emiratis wor king for various public, federal and local organizations （UAE Human Development Report, 2018）. At the same time, the UAE currently suffers fr om lo w female workforc e participation rate （35.2%）, while having a re latively low unemployment rate （3.5%）（Dubai Statistics Center, 2016）. Hence, these findings suggest that the majorit y of Emirati women - including STEM gr aduates - have activel y chosen not to wor k. In other wor ds, this is in direct co ntrast to many other countries where students’ car eer aspirations dictate academic paths at the higher education le vel （Yu, 2017; Disco, 2018）, particularly in STEM fields where the expected income is gr eater （Lee & Kim,2007）. Considering this social co ntext, it is difficult to co nc lude the reasons behind Emirati women’s enthusiastic participation in STEM related paths. Fur thermore, this phenomenon is also pr ominent in other GCC countries that share similar labor market structures. Thus, I in vestigate whether students in science str eams differ in their car eer aspirations fr om students in ar ts str eams in the UAE. By exploring the reasons why female Emirati students pursue differ ent str eams and whether students in science str eams differ in their car eer aspirations fr om students in ar ts str eams, I attempt to pr ovide a br oa der explanation of the car eer aspirations and its implications of female students in the GCC.Research Methods and Description of ParticipantsTo better understand how female Emirati students’ education-choice shape their career aspirations, I employed a mixed-methods approach to triangulate interview data with survey data. First, to examine educational aspirations and career prospects of UAE women, an online questionnaire was distributed from January-October 2016 through snowball sampling method. The survey was primarily conducted in Arabic, and then further translated into English. To minimize non-responses and to make the survey easier to answer, pre-coded questions were applied to most of the survey questions. The survey contained 33 items and was divided into four major parts: （1） personal data; （2） educational awareness; （3） educational acts; and （4） car eer awareness, based on the IPO model （Astin,1991）. Once data was collected fr om 161 U AE female nationals between 15 and 30 y ears old, SPSS was used to analyze the data.Second, semi-structured interviews wer e co nducted, during my fieldwor k in the UAE fr om October 2016 to May 2018, to obtain infor mation about the interviewee’s educational ba ckground and car eer pr ospects. Total of nine men and women of UAE nationality wer e interviewed using the Snowball Sampling Method. However , in this paper, four Emirati women, two ea ch fr om ar ts str eam and science str eam1, who ar e currently attending higher education institutions in the UAE, wer e analyzed. Due to the sensitivity ar ound data gathering in the UAE and the sensitive nature of educational lif e stories （Alfarran,2016）, an individual interview method was selected as the most appropriate given the cultural co ntext of the UAE. Moreo ver, al l interviews wer e co nducted over Sky pe and recorded with participants’ permission to pr ovide a safe space where the participant would fr eely express their views on an y topics discussed. Table 1 gives a summary description of respondents, including ag e, current status and academic major, and shows the diverse demograp hics of the interview participants.
50早稲田教育評論 第35巻第１号Table 1 Description of respondentsSur veyInterviewAge （n=161）15-1956%IDCurrent status（student）Major20-2439%25-305%UW2 2-y ear University Public relations （A）Current status （n=161）Student91%UW6 3-y ear University Humanity （A）Employed4%UW3 3-y ear University Engineering （S）Unemployed5%UW4 2-y ear University Nutrition （S）Major（n= 132）Arts stream49%Science Str eam51%ResultsThe survey data revealed that more than 98% of respondents plan to pursue some for m of car eer af ter finishing their undergraduate degrees. At the same time, more than 85% of respondents in both ar ts and science str eams indicated having ver y str ong or str ong co nf idence in pursuing their intended car eer path （table 2）. However , there was no statistical differ ence between the gr oups in their co nf idence regarding their future car eer paths.Table 2 Likelihood to acquire the job by major & Planed future degree by major （%）LikelihoodTotal （n）PPlaned future degreeTotal（n）PVer y lo wLowHighVer y highDBMDArts0.0 14.0 64.9 21.1100.0（57）n.s.3.5 19.3 35.1 42.1100.0（57）n.s.Science0.0 13.8 55.4 30.8100.0（65）0.0 25.4 33.3 41.3100.0（63）Total0.0 13.9 59.8 26.2100.0（122）1.7 22.5 34.2 41.7100.0（120）+ p＜ .1, * p＜ .05, ** p ＜ .01, *** p＜ .001, N.S. No Signific antNote: D （Diploma）, B （Bachelor）, M （Master）, D （Doctorate）Based on the Chi-square test of gr oup dependence, where my analysis yielded a Chi-square value of 2.737 and a p-value higher than the alpha value of 0.05, I found that there was no statistical differ ence between students pursuing ar ts and science str eams in terms of their expected le vels of education in their lif etimes. Regardless of their chosen academic str eams, more than 30% of respondents indicated that they would like to pursue master degrees, while more than 40% of respondents indicated wanting to pursue doctoral degrees. In co ntrast, onl y 20% of respondents fr om ar ts str eams and 25% of respondents from science streams indicated bachelor’s degree as their expected terminal degree .Compared to the results fr om the quantitative analysis, our qualitative data yielded similar findings.Over al l, the selected intervie wees fr om both academic str eams showed little differ ence when talking