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Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering

Published 6 issues per year

ISSN Print: 1072-8325

ISSN Online: 1940-431X

SJR: 0.514 SNIP: 0.875 CiteScore™:: 2.4 H-Index: 27

Indexed in

GENDER CONCEPTION AND THE CHILLY ROAD TO FEMALE UNDERGRADUATES' PERSISTENCE IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING FIELDS

Volume 18, Issue 3, 2012, pp. 215-234
DOI: 10.1615/JWomenMinorScienEng.2013003752
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ABSTRACT

Women represent less than a third of undergraduate and graduate degrees in science and engineering (SE). This underrepresentation is not only a social and cultural issue, but it is also cause for alarm with regard to the United States' ability to maintain its technological and economic dominance in the global economy. Research indicates that there are internal and external factors that affect the ability of women to see future success in SE and to identify with the masculine nature of SE. This study focuses on the role of identity in 26 women's decisions to persist or leave their SE undergraduate degree at the university level. The study utilizes multiple conceptions of identity negotiation to identify how each participant negotiated her own personal identity with that of the SE departmental culture of which she was a part. The findings reveal that only women who participate in redefinition strategies related to their marginalized status are able to persist; those who cannot redefine their marginality in relation to the dominant discourse of SE begin to lose interest or doubt their competence in the field, resulting in their departure from SE. The findings also illustrate additions to current identity frameworks to better understand the role of SE identity for leavers.

CITED BY
  1. Balakrishnan Balamuralithara, Low Foon Siang, Learning Experience and Socio-Cultural Influences on Female Engineering Students’ Perspectives on Engineering Courses and Careers, Minerva, 54, 2, 2016. Crossref

  2. Rulifson Greg, Bielefeldt Angela, Motivations to Leave Engineering: Through a Lens of Social Responsibility, Engineering Studies, 9, 3, 2017. Crossref

  3. Pugh Kevin J., Phillips Michael M., Sexton Julie M., Bergstrom Cassendra M., Riggs Eric M., A quantitative investigation of geoscience departmental factors associated with the recruitment and retention of female students, Journal of Geoscience Education, 67, 3, 2019. Crossref

  4. Perez-Felkner Lara, Conceptualizing the Field: Higher Education Research on the STEM Gender Gap, New Directions for Institutional Research, 2018, 179, 2018. Crossref

  5. Bosman Lisa, Roy Somesh, McDonald Walter, Ababei Cristinel, Using online discussions to connect theory and practice in core engineering undergraduate courses, Computer Applications in Engineering Education, 28, 3, 2020. Crossref

  6. Wilson Denise, VanAntwerp Jennifer, Wright Joanna, Summers Lauren, Need Satisfaction and Need Frustration among Women and Men Faculty in Engineering: A Self-Determination Perspective, 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings, 2019. Crossref

  7. Bouwma-Gearhart Jana, Choi Yoon Ha, Lenhart Cindy A., Villanueva Idalis, Nadelson Louis S., Soto Estefany, Undergraduate Students Becoming Engineers: The Affordances of University-Based Makerspaces, Sustainability, 13, 4, 2021. Crossref

  8. Pugh Kevin J., Paek Sue Hyeon, Phillips Michael M., Sexton Julie M., Bergstrom Cassendra M., Flores Selani D., Riggs Eric M., Predicting academic and career choice: The role of transformative experience, connection to instructor, and gender accounting for interest/identity and contextual factors, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 58, 6, 2021. Crossref

  9. Choi Yoon Ha, Bouwma-Gearhart Jana, Lenhart Cindy A., Villanueva Idalis, Nadelson Louis S., Student Development at the Boundaries: Makerspaces as Affordances for Engineering Students’ Development, Sustainability, 13, 6, 2021. Crossref

  10. Roy Abhik, Rambo-Hernandez Karen E., There’s So Much to Do and Not Enough Time to Do It! A Case for Sentiment Analysis to Derive Meaning From Open Text Using Student Reflections of Engineering Activities, American Journal of Evaluation, 42, 4, 2021. Crossref

  11. Winrow Nevada, Winrow Taylor-Symon, Jones Michael B., Heemsoth Amy, Davis Brian, Smith David, Johnson Dwayne K., Empowering and Inspiring Young Girls a STEM at a Time: Using Place-Based Learning to Cultivate STEM Identities, Current: The Journal of Marine Education, 35, 1, 2021. Crossref

Forthcoming Articles

Mitigating Barriers, Scaffolding Success: Institutional Supports for Black Undergraduate Women in Engineering Programs Meseret Hailu, Neelakshi Rajeev Tewari, Brooke Coley Underrepresented Students Pursuing Mathematics-Intensive Degrees: Changes after Transitioning to College Alison Marzocchi What do STEM Clubs do? The Effect of College Club Participation on Career Confidence and Gender Inclusion Guillermo Dominguez Garcia, Jennifer Glass Validating Practices and Messages that Promote Women’s Engineering Classroom Belongingness: An Intersectional Approach Dina Verdin, A Lili Castillo Examining the Role of Institutional Support on International Doctoral Women’s STEM Persistence and Mental Health Aisha Farra, Aashika Anantharaman, Sarah Swanson, Kerrie Wilkins-Yel, Jennifer Bekki, Nedim Yel, Ashley Randall, Bianca Bernstein Searching for safe space: Student veterans’ uneven pathways to STEM careers by race Brittany Hunt, Jae Hoon Lim Does Race, Ethnicity or Gender of the Mentor Affect Whether They Will be a “Good Mentor”? A Qualitative Analysis of Students’ Perceptions Reuben May, Christine Stanley, America Soto-Arzat, Jennifer Ackerman PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY AND TEAM MEMBER EFFECTIVENESS OF MINORITIZED STUDENTS IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION Behzad Beigpourian, Matthew Ohland Perceptions of Department Chair Roles and Responsibilities in Career Progression and Success of Women STEM Faculty Stephanie Jones, Patricia Ryan Pal “Barbed-Wire Boundaries”: Hidden Curriculum, First-Generation and Low-Income Engineering Students, and Internship Acquisition Jerry Yang, Joseph Towles, Sheri Sheppard, Sara Atwood “I Want to Make an Impact”: The Science Identity and Career Goals of Black and Latinx Science and Engineering Postdoctoral Scholars Sylvia Mendez, Kathryn Watson, Kathryn Starkey, Valerie Conley Care Work, Science Brokering, and Career Motivations: How Hispanic/Latinx Young Adults in STEM Express Social Agency during the COVID-19 Pandemic Angela Frederick, Angelica Monarrez, Danielle Morales Bridging the gap: A sequential mixed methods study of trust networks in graduate application, admissions, and enrollment Cynthia Villarreal, Julie Posselt, Theresa Hernandez, Alexander Rudolph
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