Background The affinity research group (ARG) model is a set of practices built on a

Less than 20% of undergraduates earning a degree in engineering are women, and even more alarming is minority women earn a mere 3.1% of those degrees. This paper reports on a qualitative study examining Latinas' identity development toward and in undergraduate engineering and computer science studies using a sociocultural theory of learning. Three major themes emerged from the data analysis: 1) Engineering support clusters as affinity spaces contributing to development of engineering identities; 2) Mexican or Mexican-American family contributing to persistence in engineering; and 3) Equity in access to engineering education. Engineering support clusters and Mexican heritage family support were vital in developing and sustaining Latinas' engineering identity. Additionally, data supported the idea that Latinas at the research site experienced gender and ethnic equity in their access to engineering education. The authors call for a more gender-inclusive engineering education and situating education experiences in more effective learning approaches (i.e., critical thinking in community and cultural contexts), which deserves attention in order to move engineering away from a ubiquitous view of inflexibility regarding women in engineering.

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In 2016, Latinas earned 13% of the college degrees earned by women; yet, a mere 3% were in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Persistence in engineering education has largely been the burden of women rather than the institution itself, and it can be said that the field of engineering is powerful in mediating identity-making via layers of historically rooted privilege, leading to discomfort and disillusionment. This qualitative investigation of Latinas at an institution on the U.S.-Mexico border draws from a larger nationally funded study examining persistence and resilience in engineering education. This article focuses on one of the major themes emerging from the larger study: Latinas in engineering and computer science undergraduate studies have been challenged by the endemic barriers rooted in systemic violence of the male-dominated field of engineering and its historical marginalization of women, especially women of color. Twenty-six undergraduate Latinas were recruited using purposeful sampling, and data relevant to the theme of this investigation were drawn from all of the interviews and collected using in-depth interviews. This study, however, focuses largely on the narratives of 3 participants who provided thick descriptions of their experiences, and the strongest emergent theme was the adversity faced by Latinas, which was manifested in a variety of ways largely due to the historical structure of engineering as rigid and masculine. This posed a contentious climate for many of these Latinas, which this article illuminates to demonstrate the enduring and invisible symbolic violence of Latinas in engineering undergraduate studies.

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