Begell House Inc.
Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering
JWM
1072-8325
24
4
2018
REVERSAL OF THE GENDER GAP: THE BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AS A UNIQUE CASE WITHIN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATHEMATICS (STEM)
291-324
10.1615/JWomenMinorScienEng.2018019995
Linda J.
Sax
School of Education & Information Studies, University of California Los Angeles,
Moore Hall 457 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
Gloria
Lim
University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
Kathleen
Lehman
University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
Laura
Lonje-Paulson
Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California 90045, USA
STEM
gender
biological sciences
college major
undergraduate
major selection
Among fields in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), the field of biological sciences is unique in that it has evidenced a reversal of the gender gap in participation. Women are no longer underrepresented in the biological sciences degree programs, earning more than half of undergraduate degrees in these fields in 2016 (National Center for Education Statistics, 2018). Despite women's heightened interest in the biomedical fields, little is known about the backgrounds, characteristics, and personality orientations of undergraduates who major in biological sciences or how this differs by gender. Utilizing national data spanning four decades, this study furthers our understanding of the biological sciences talent pool in the following ways: (1) it explores differences in the characteristics of women and men who plan to major in the biological sciences, and (2) examines how this population has evolved over time. The results of this study reveal the types of students who are attracted to biological science majors (e.g., having a parent in a STEM career or having PhD degree aspirations) and show that the salience of some of these traits (e.g., race and self-rated math ability) vary by gender and have shifted over time.
THE ROLE OF SEX AND GENDER IDENTIFICATION IN STEM FACULTY'S WORK-RELATED STRESS AND EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING
325-337
10.1615/JWomenMinorScienEng.2018019436
Lauren
Hawthorne
Rockhurst University, 1100 Rockhurst Road, Kansas City, Missouri 64110, USA
Shannon K.
McCoy
University of Maine, Orono, Maine 04469, USA
Ellen E.
Newell
Wilkes University, 84 W South St., Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania 18701, USA
Amy
Blackstone
University of Maine, Orono, Maine 04469, USA
Susan K.
Gardner
University of Maine, Orono, Maine 04469, USA
gender differences
group identification
well-being
STEM
women
Our research examines the role of sex and gender identification in the work-related stress and emotional
well-being of faculty in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and non-STEM disciplines. Stereotypes of male superiority in STEM abound, and identifying strongly with gender may make women more susceptible to the consequences of this bias. We hypothesized that distancing from gender would be associated with higher well-being for women faculty in STEM. As predicted, the less gender-identified women faculty in STEM were, the better their emotional well-being and the less work-related stress they reported. These relationships were not observed for women in non-STEM disciplines. Our results suggest that gender identification is an important predictor of women's well-being in STEM and may serve as a barrier for the retention of highly gender-identified women in these fields.
PREDICTING COLLEGE WOMEN'S PERCEPTIONS OF A FUTURE IN ENGINEERING BY THEIR EXPERIENCES OF MICROAGGRESSIONS, IDENTITY MANAGEMENT, AND SELF-EFFICACY IN COLLEGE ENGINEERING
339-360
10.1615/JWomenMinorScienEng.2018020527
Dara
Naphan-Kingery
Vanderbilt University, 2201 West End Ave, Nashville, Tennessee 37235, USA
Marta
Elliott
University of Nevada, Reno, 1664 N Virginia St, Reno, Nevada 89557, USA
college engineering
gender microaggressions
identity centrality
social recategorization
positive distinctiveness
self-efficacy
persistence
This purpose of this study on college women majoring in engineering was to examine how their experience of gender microaggressions, the centrality of their identities as women and as engineers, and their strategic management of these identities predicted their self-efficacy and perceived future of graduating and seeking a career in engineering.
Survey data were collected from 404 female undergraduate engineering students from two mid-sized universities in the Western U.S. and analyzed with confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Results suggested that women's engineering identity centrality, or the importance they placed on being engineering students to their self-concept, was beneficial for their perceived persistence in the field; whereas their gender identity centrality, or the importance they placed on being women, was problematic. However, identity management partially mitigated these associations. Engineering identity centrality predicted social recategorization, which is characterized by blending in with men and de-emphasizing one's gender. In contrast, gender identity centrality predicted positive distinctiveness, a strategy that is typified by attempts to improve men's perceptions of women. Social recategorization had no apparent benefits as an identity management strategy, whereas positive distinctiveness indirectly predicted increased likelihood of persistence via self-efficacy. The implications of these two strategies are discussed.
ASSUMING BRILLIANCE: A DECRIMINALIZING APPROACH TO EDUCATING AFRICAN AMERICAN AND LATINO BOYS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STEM SETTINGS
361-379
10.1615/JWomenMinorScienEng.2018020378
Vincent
Basile
Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
Enrique J.
Lopez
University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
brilliance
criminalization
school-to-prison pipeline
boys of color
African American boys
Latino boys
science education
STEM education
By way of a well-established and sophisticated school-to-prison pipeline, boys of color face destructive and unjust systems of oppression in their everyday school settings. Disrupting this hyper-criminalization requires purposeful and thoughtful practices. In this manuscript, we put forth the concept of assuming brilliance as a mechanism that disrupts criminalization. Derived from a multisite longitudinal empirical study focused on the experiences of elementary school African American and Latino boys in
an after-school STEM program, we offer concrete examples of assuming brilliance, along with suggestions for ways in which educators, teacher preparation programs, and future research may take up this decriminalizing classroom practice.
Index, Volume 24, 2018
380-384
10.1615/JWomenMinorScienEng.v24.i4.50