Gender Representation in Engineering Education: A Multi-Year Analysis Using AISHE

Abstract

With women underrepresented, engineering education in India continues to face persistent gender disparities. Despite various reforms and interventions across the decades, the imbalance is still apparent. This study examines gender representation in engineering education in India using both the systematic literature review and quantitative data analysis. The systematic literature review followed the PRISMA guidelines to review peer-reviewed open-access research articles. The review helped to identify the key factors that influence women’s participation in engineering education, such as social, cultural, organizational, and policy-based barriers. For the quantitative data analysis, the authors have referred to the data from the All-India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE) across multiple years (2012–2022). This study aims to understand the trends in female enrollment and graduation in engineering programs. The data was organized, cleaned, and represented. The graphical representation highlights year-wise patterns, progress, and areas where gender gaps persist. With the combined insights from SLR and AISHE data trends, the authors have proposed a conceptual framework that aims to improve female participation. The findings of this study are expected to inform institutions and policymakers on how to make the engineering education system more inclusive for female participants.