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

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.