ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Higher Education
Pathways to Engineering: Exploring Female Students' Motivations and Goals — A Case Study from the Middle East
Provisionally accepted
- 1American University of Sharjah College of Engineering, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
- 2College of Engineering, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
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STEM fields play a central role in economic growth and national development. However, women remain underrepresented in engineering, including in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where STEM has been identified as a strategic priority. Although research on women in STEM is extensive, most of it focuses on Western contexts. As a result, there is limited theory-driven research on what motivates women in engineering programs in the Gulf region. In addition, there is a lack of models that integrate both internal drivers and contextual influences in this setting. To address this gap, this study investigates the motivations of female engineering students in the United Arab Emirates and develops the Contextualized Female Engineering Motivation Model (CFEMM). Using a mixed-methods design at the American University of Sharjah, semi-structured interviews with 10 students identify key intrinsic, social, and institutional drivers, which then inform a survey of 180 female undergraduates. Quantitative analysis in SAS, including EFA, CFA, and SEM, supports a two-factor structure: Intrinsic and Empowerment Motivation (IEM) and External and Contextual Influence (ECI). CFA indicates acceptable model fit, and SEM shows that ECI has a positive and significant effect on overall MWiE, whereas IEM has a significant but negative association. This counterintuitive relationship likely reflects how the overall motivation measure captures externally reinforced and institutionally visible forms of motivation more strongly than empowerment-oriented internal drivers within this specific institutional context. As a single-institution case study, the findings offer context-sensitive insights into women's motivation in engineering and may inform the development of motivation models in similar institutional and cultural settings. CFEMM provides a structured framework for examining how internal aspirations and contextual supports interact and highlights areas for strengthening mentoring, visibility of opportunities, and supportive learning environments.
Keywords: Female students, Middle East, Stem motivation, United Arab Emirates, women in engineering
Received: 04 Jan 2026; Accepted: 09 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Ahmed, Al-Assaf, Sagahyroon and Aloul. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Vian Ahmed
Karam Al-Assaf
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