Electrical and computer engineering laboratory education for female undergraduate students: Challenges and solutions from an urban perspective of Bangladesh

This paper describes the results of a multi-modal study to explore the performance of female undergraduate students in Electrical and Computer Engineering laboratory settings of urban universities of Bangladesh. Observing a distinct difference in enthusiasm and performance in laboratory education versus theory education amongst female students, we dig deeper to investigate whether there is a systematic reluctance or hindrance in developing hands-on/laboratory skills for female students and what factors may affect their laboratory education. A few distinct themes describing the status quo of female laboratory education are formalized based on the study and solution approaches are presented to improve the current situation.