Gender gap in the perceived achievement of complex thinking in engineering education: an approach in a Mexican university population

Abstract

This article aims to present the results of an analysis of the level of perceived achievement of the complex thinking competency in a population of engineering students at a technological university in western Mexico. The intention was to contrast the levels of achievement perception of this competency and its sub-competencies in two sample groups, one with first-semester students and the other with students in their last semester, to identify if there was an equitable development between men and women. Methodologically, we employed multivariate descriptive statistical analyses, confirming the development gap between genders. Although both men and women perceived developing the competency and its sub-competencies, women had more limited results, which, at the end of their university career, led them to be surpassed by their male peers. © 2025 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Keywords

Author Keywords

complex thinking educational innovation future of education Professional education scientific gender gap

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations

Institute for the Future of Education, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Monterrey, NLE, Mexico, School of Humanities and Education, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Monterrey, NLE, Mexico

School of Engineering Sciences, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Monterrey, NLE, Mexico

Universidad del Valle de Atemajac, Leon, GUA, Mexico

Universidad UTE, Quito, Pichincha, Ecuador

Funding & Acknowledgements

Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, ITESM

Grant: #I003-IFE001-C2-T3–T, #I004-IFE001-C2-T3–T, #I005-IFE001-C2-T3–T

This research received financial support from Tecnologico de Monterrey through the \u201CChallenge-Based Research Funding Program 2022\u201D. Projects ID#I001-IFE001-C1-T1\u2013E, ID#I003-IFE001-C2-T3\u2013T, ID#I004-IFE001-C2-T3\u2013T and ID#I005-IFE001-C2-T3\u2013T. The authors wish to acknowledge the technical support of Writing Lab, Institute for the Future of Education, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico, in the production of this work and the support of the Center for Linkage and Professional Development, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Campus Guadalajara.

Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, ITESM

This research received financial support from Tecnologico de Monterrey through the \u201CChallenge-Based Research Funding Program 2022\u201D. Projects ID#I001-IFE001-C1-T1\u2013E, ID#I003-IFE001-C2-T3\u2013T, ID#I004-IFE001-C2-T3\u2013T and ID#I005-IFE001-C2-T3\u2013T. The authors wish to acknowledge the technical support of Writing Lab, Institute for the Future of Education, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico, in the production of this work and the support of the Center for Linkage and Professional Development, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Campus Guadalajara.

References 10 References

1 undefined, (2021)

2 Antonio, Anthony Lising, Effects of racial diversity on complex thinking in college students, Psychological Science, 15, 8, pp. 507-510, (2004)

3 Revista De El Colegio De San Luis, (2019)

4 Babic, Audrey, The Glass Ceiling for Women Managers: Antecedents and Consequences for Work-Family Interface and Well-Being at Work, Frontiers in Psychology, 12, (2021)

5 Blay, Enio Alterman, The Emergence of Edgar Morin’s Complex Thinking, Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciencias, 96, 4, (2024)

6 Bruno, Valentina, Editorial: Women in cognitive neuroscience: 2023, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 19, (2025)

7 Cruz-Sandoval, Marco, Systemic thinking and gender: an exploratory study of Mexican female university students, Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 10, 1, (2023)

8 Cruz-Sandoval, Marco, Perceived Achievement of Social Entrepreneurship Competency: The Influence of Age, Discipline, and Gender among Women in Higher Education, Sustainability (Switzerland), 15, 13, (2023)

9 Cruz-Sandoval, Marco, Complex thinking and social entrepreneurship. An approach from the methodology of compositional data analysis, Heliyon, 9, 2, (2023)

10 Cruz-Sandoval, Marco, Student Perception of the Level of Development of Complex Thinking: An Approach Involving University Women in Mexico, Journal of Latinos and Education, 23, 2, pp. 768-780, (2024)

Gender gap in the perceived achievement of complex thinking in engineering education: an approach in a Mexican university population

How to Cite