How Undergraduate Engineering Students Perceive Women’s (and Men’s) Problems in Science, Math and Engineering

Hartman, Harriet; Hartman, Moshe

doi:10.1007/s11199-007-9327-9

Cited by 56 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…The co-occurrence of career-building and childbearing "clocks" mean women more than men confront a demanding workload in establishing a research laboratory at a time of greatest fertility (Mason and Ekman 2007;Mason et al 2013). This is compounded by women customarily assuming more responsibility for child-rearing and domestic chores than men (Hartman and Hartman 2008;Kmec 2013). Concerns that STEM work environments lack structural supports for family leave, flexible work schedules, and child-care, make them seem incompatible with career-life balance (Gibbs and Griffin 2013;Ivie and Tesfaye 2012;Moors et al 2014;Tan-Wilson and Stamp 2015).…”

Section: Gender Difference Explanationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The incidents in the present study elaborate this interpretation. Several existing studies document the decline of the proportion of women in physical sciences and engineering between the time they complete doctoral programs and when they would logically begin academic research positions (Ceci et al 2009;Gibbs and Griffin 2013;Hartman and Hartman 2008;Ivie and Tesfaye 2012;Kmec 2013;Mason and Ekman 2007;Mason et al 2013;Moors et al 2014;Tan-Wilson and Stamp 2015). It has also been argued that women's period of fertility coincides with the time to build their research portfolio, and that coincidence is responsible for women leaving research-intensive careers to pursue a desire to build their families.…”

Section: Balancing Work and Life Was Sometimes Difficultmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Chilly Climates, Balancing Acts, and Shifting Pathways: What Happens to Women in STEM Doctoral Programs

Cabay¹,

Bernstein

Rivers

et al. 2018

Social Sciences

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Women in doctoral programs in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) leave without finishing at higher rates than men and, as with men, turn away from academic and research careers. This qualitative study examines the day-to-day influences on female doctoral students during their third or fourth year in physical science and engineering programs. Ethnographic cognitive interviewing and online incident reports document the specific experiences and reactions of 28 participants over a six-month period. The data were analyzed to identify key incidents, categories and recurring themes. Some incidents contributed to women's growing sense of competence, recognition and identification of oneself as a scientist. Others fit a model of microaggressions and gender barriers in a predominantly masculine culture. Problems of work-life balance were demonstrated for some women. Incidents generated responses by some participants that they would disengage from a research-intensive career trajectory toward alternate career interests outside of academic research. The findings provide information about the lived experiences of women in doctoral programs and suggest that the metaphor of career pathways may be more useful than pipelines in explaining the direction of women who are advanced doctoral students in research-intensive fields.Keywords: women; graduate students; science and engineering; STEM; gender inequity Gaps between men and women persist in the pursuit and outcomes of degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) (Shauman 2017; Turk-Bicakci and Berger 2014). In the life and social sciences, women have closed the gap in undergraduate majors and admission to graduate programs and now exceed men in completion of doctoral programs (National Science Foundation 2017). Yet women are awarded fewer than 25% of the doctoral degrees in the physical sciences and engineering, and hold disproportionately fewer tenured faculty positions in STEM and far fewer positions of prestige and power (Bernstein 2011;Handelsman et al. 2005;Fox 2001; National Science Foundation 2017).The "leaky pipeline" metaphor commonly refers to the disproportionate exit of women from STEM at transitions from one educational or career level to another, the consequence of which is fewer and fewer women remaining in the "pool" for subsequent advancement in STEM ). The pipeline metaphor relies on a somewhat linear conception of careers with certain specified outcomes, such as moving from an undergraduate major in STEM, through PhD degrees and postdocs, to faculty positions, to tenure, and eventually to full rank in research universities. Previous research on why women leave STEM fields at a greater rate than their male counterparts has examined the motivation of women to pursue STEM undergraduate degrees (Beyer 2014;Griffith 2010;Grunert and Bobnerb 2011;London et al.

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Section: Gender Difference Explanationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Balancing Work and Life Was Sometimes Difficultmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chilly Climates, Balancing Acts, and Shifting Pathways: What Happens to Women in STEM Doctoral Programs

Cabay¹,

Bernstein

Rivers

et al. 2018

Social Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…George (2006) calls science still a 'male-dominated profession'. More in general, gender role socialization traditionally does not support a positive attitude towards science among women (Messersmith, Garrett, Davis-Kean, Malanchuk & Eccles, 2008;Hartman & Hartman, 2008;Eccles, 2009). Our hypothesis therefore is to find differences in intention to become a researcher between female and male students.…”

Section: Journal Of Education and Trainingmentioning

confidence: 76%

Determinants of Bachelor Students’ Intention to Enter a Research-Oriented Career

Heerwegh

Verhoeven

Wit

2016

JET

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The career opportunities of university bachelor students are multiple. Some bachelor students might consider a career in research. In this article, we explore, first, the degree to which bachelor students in a research intensive university intend to enter a research-oriented career, and second, the factors influencing this intention. 1,232 students of a research-intensive university answered an on line questionnaire. 4.08% scored 4 or higher out of 5 on a scale that measures the intention to become a researcher. A regression model (R² = .47) showed that among a set of 13 variables, the attitude towards research proved to have the strongest influence on the intention to enter a research-oriented career, next to gender, and study major. The occupational focus, frequency of use of ICT (information and communication technologies) instruments, and the opinion that scientific research needs ICT have a negative influence.

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“…Math education is an important area for women that needs further examination. Math efficacy can directly impact women's educational and career pursuits across the life span into later life, creating "barriers" where there should be only opportunities (e.g., Brodish & Devine, 2009;Hart, Petrill, Thompson, & Plomin, 2009;Hartman & Hartman, 2008), and potentially creating a detrimental cycle of negative self-evaluation and restrictive life choices. Social stereotypes exist for women learning math (e.g., "women can't do math" stereotype belief).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“By the Numbers:” Language-based and Competency Enhancing Math Instruction to Alleviate Older Women’s Math Stereotype Threat Reactions

Hollis-Sawyer

Sawyer²

2014

IJE

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Haack (1979) purported that the use of language in math-related statistics instruction (i.e., "statistical literacy") is a good instructional approach to teach introductory statistics to learners. Extending current stereotype threat research on women, older adults, and math, the present research explored math-related anxiety and test performance outcomes between younger ("traditional") and older ("non-traditional") women college learners in four different instructional conditions ("math as language/competency enhancing," "math as language/competency destroying," "math as numbers/competency enhancing," and "math as numbers/competency destroying,"). An exploratory investigation examined whether the "math as language/competency enhancing" would elicit significant and assistive "self schema" linkages with positive gender performance ("women are better at verbal tasks" concept) and aging-related expertise ("older adults have accumulated language skills" concept) positive stereotypes based on past language-related socialization experiences for women and older adults. The positive impact of the "math as language/competency enhancing" instructional condition in preliminary results appeared to benefit both younger and older women learners in both personal attitudes toward math ability, general learning capability, and testing performance behaviors. Analyses by age level supported the idea of a math-related "decrement" stereotype threat belief among the older women learners, in comparison to younger women learners, across learning conditions.

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How Undergraduate Engineering Students Perceive Women’s (and Men’s) Problems in Science, Math and Engineering

Cited by 56 publications

References 9 publications

Chilly Climates, Balancing Acts, and Shifting Pathways: What Happens to Women in STEM Doctoral Programs

Chilly Climates, Balancing Acts, and Shifting Pathways: What Happens to Women in STEM Doctoral Programs

Determinants of Bachelor Students’ Intention to Enter a Research-Oriented Career

“By the Numbers:” Language-based and Competency Enhancing Math Instruction to Alleviate Older Women’s Math Stereotype Threat Reactions

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