Differences in men and women scientists' perceptions of workplace climate
Autor/in:
Gunter, Ramona; Stambach, Amy
Quelle: Journal of women and minorities in science and engineering, Vol. 11 (2005) No. 1, S. 97-116
Inhalt: "The climate of science is often described as 'chilly' toward women and is blamed for women's underrepresentation and slow advancement within science fields. However, evidence of a chilly climate is often indirect. In this study of male and female science faculty members at a major research university, the authors found direct evidence for a chilly climate: A smaller percentage of women than men described their workplace environments in positive terms, and a larger percentage of women than men described uncomfortable, tense, or hostile interactions. Some men and many women said that gender bias might explain women's negative experiences; at the same time, these men and women stated that they could not say for certain that gender bias existed in their departments. Reasons for interviewees' difficulties in identifying and labeling gender bias are discussed." (author's abstract)
Building careers, transforming institutions : underrepresented women and minorities, leadership opportunities, and interinstitutional networking
Autor/in:
Niemeier, D.A.; Smith, Vicki
Quelle: Journal of women and minorities in science and engineering, Vol. 11 (2005) No. 2, S. 181-196
Inhalt: "Transforming universities does not occur exclusively as a result of the actions of current university leaders but additionally requires the collective efforts of women who are interested in mobility and opportunity for women across the board, and who are committed to changing the broad work environment for women in the academy. In engineering, the representation of women in mid-career and senior-level faculty positions remains very low, with even fewer women assuming leadership positions such as department chair or research center director. In this article, we examine outcomes of the National Science Foundation sponsored 1st Women in Engineering Leadership Conference in the fall of 2000. The conference was designed to enable women engineers to develop the types of network that can facilitate transition to leadership positions. With an analysis of data gathered from surveys at three points in time, we track the issues that were salient to women who were considering leadership roles (both obstacles to and aspirations for); identify the benefits accrued from participation in the conference and from subsequent networking activities; and propose future interventions that may enhance and promote interinstitutional networking." (author's abstract)
CEWS Kategorie:Netzwerke und Organisationen, Naturwissenschaft und Technik, Geschlechterverhältnis
Dokumenttyp:Zeitschriftenaufsatz
"Failing girls" : understanding connections among identity negotiation, personal relevance, and engagement in science learning from underachieving girls
Autor/in:
Windschitl, Mark; Thompson, Jessica J.
Quelle: Journal of women and minorities in science and engineering, Vol. 11 (2005) No. 1, S. 1-26
Inhalt: "Contemporary critiques of science education have noted that girls often fail to engage in science learning because the activities lack relevance for them, and they cannot 'see themselves' in the work of science. Despite the empirical support for these claims, theory around the important connections between relevance, emerging self-identity, and engagement for girls remains underdeveloped. This qualitative, exploratory investigation examines engagement in science learning among five underachieving high school girls. Data sources include in-depth interviews, classroom observations, and teacher surveys. The girls were asked to describe engagement within three learning contexts: science class, a favorite class, and an extracurricular activity. From the girls' voices emerge three themes reflecting the centrality of self: 'who I am,' 'who I am becoming,' and 'the importance of relationships.' It is important that these themes of self and of identity negotiation are integrated with the ways these girls find learning personally relevant. One pattern of extracurricular engagement and two patterns of science engagement (integrated and situational) are described. This study attempts to expand the dialogue around the relationships between identity, relevance, and engagement among underachieving girls and suggests ways in which curriculum can be grounded in students' lives and developing identities." (author's abstract)
CEWS Kategorie:Bildung und Erziehung, Berufsbiographie und Karriere
Dokumenttyp:Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Development, implementation, and evaluation of a science learning community for underrepresented students
Autor/in:
Garrett-Ruffin, Sherona; Martsolf, Donna S.
Quelle: Journal of women and minorities in science and engineering, Vol. 11 (2005) No. 2, S. 197-208
Inhalt: "Recruiting women, minorities, and first-generation students into the sciences, and retaining these students, is a challenge at many universities. Learning communities have been used in many university settings to promote the retention of students from the 1st to the 2nd year. The Science Learning Community (SLC) at Kent State University was developed to help minority and first-generation college students succeed in biology, chemistry, and nursing majors. Inaugurated in 2002, the SLC had 22 members in the first cohort and 22 members in the second. Each cohort lived in one residence hall, shared cocurricular activities - including mandatory study sessions and supplemental instruction, and attended the same sections of English and science classes during the 1st year. At the conclusion of year 1, retention rates for SLC students were compared to three control groups matched for gender, minority status, ACT score, and course registration. Students in the SLC were retained at a higher rate than control group members (82.6% compared with 73.7% for the first cohort; 81.8% compared with 79.3% for the second cohort) and expressed high satisfaction with the SLC experience during exit interviews." (author's abstract)
Autor/in:
Larsen, Elizabeth A.; Stubbs, Margaret L.
Quelle: Journal of women and minorities in science and engineering, Vol. 11 (2005) No. 2, S. 139-170
Inhalt: "Lack of diversity within the computer science field has, thus far, been examined most fully through the lens of gender. This article is based on a follow-on to Margolis and Fisher's (2002) study and includes interviews with 33 Carnegie Mellon University students from the undergraduate senior class of 2002 in the School of Computer Science. We found evidence of similarities among the perceptions of these women and men on definitions of computer science, explanations for the notoriously low proportion of women in the field, characterizations of a typical computer science student, impressions of recent curricular changes, a sense of the atmosphere/ culture in the program, views of the Women@SCS campus organization, and suggestions for attracting and retaining well-rounded students in computer science. We conclude that efforts to increase diversity in the computer science field will benefit from a more broad-based approach that considers, but is not limited to, notions of gender difference." (author's abstract)
Schlagwörter:Informatik; Managing Diversity
CEWS Kategorie:Naturwissenschaft und Technik, Geschlechterverhältnis
Dokumenttyp:Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Theater as a community-building strategy for women in engineering : theory and practice
Autor/in:
Chesler, Naomi C.; Chesler, Mark A.
Quelle: Journal of women and minorities in science and engineering, Vol. 11 (2005) No. 1, S. 83-96
Inhalt: "Previously, the authors have suggested that peer mentoring through a caring community would improve the quality of life for female faculty members in engineering and could have a positive effect on retention and career advancement. Here, the authors present the background psychosocial literature for choosing participatory theater as a strategy to develop a caring community and report on a pilot study in which participatory theater activities were used within a workshop format for untenured female faculty members in engineering. The authors identify the key differences between participatory theater and other strategies for community building that may enhance participants' sense of commonality and the strength and utility of their community as a mentoring and support mechanism and discuss the ways in which these efforts could have a broader, longer term impact." (author's abstract)
CEWS Kategorie:Naturwissenschaft und Technik, Mentoring und Training
Dokumenttyp:Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Gender writ small : gender enactments and gendered narratives about lab organization and knowledge transmission
in a biomedical engineering research setting
Quelle: Journal of women and minorities in science and engineering, Vol. 11 (2005) No. 1, S. 61-82
Inhalt: "This article presents qualitative data and offers some innovative theoretical approaches
to frame the analysis of gender in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
(STEM) settings. It begins with a theoretical discussion of a discursive approach
to gender that captures how gender is lived 'on the ground.' The authors argue for
a less individualistic approach to gender. Data for this research project was gathered
from intensive interviews with lab members and ethnographic observations in a biomedical
engineering lab. Data analysis relied on a mixed methodology involving qualitative
approaches and dialogues with findings from other research traditions. Three themes
are highlighted: lab dynamics in relation to issues of critical mass, the division
of labor, and knowledge transmission. The data illustrate how gender is created in
interactions and is inflected through forms of social organization." (author's abstract)|
Quelle: Journal of women and minorities in science and engineering, Vol. 10 (2004) No. 2, S. 99-129
Inhalt: "This research used a comparative approach and an elite framework to look at attitudes toward gender, work, and family among male and female scientists. The data came from the 1994 International Social Survey Program module measuring family and changing gender roles in (the former) East Germany, West Germany, and the United States. Research questions focused on the variation between the three samples in male scientists' attitudes regarding gender, work, and family; women's representation in science occupations; and the relation between the two. Another major concern was the extent to which female scientists express attitudes regarding gender, work, and family that resemble those of male scientists and the implications of these processes for increasing women's access to science. As predicted, male scientists in East Germany tended to have the most progressive attitudes (especially those regarding gender and work), East German women had the greatest access to science occupations, and there were virtually no sex differences in attitudes of East German scientists. West German male scientists were the most traditional on attitudes regarding gender and work, and U. S. male scientists tended to be the most traditional on attitudes regarding family. The attitudes of female scientists in West Germany and the United States reflected this larger trend, but there were sex differences within countries, with female scientists being more progressive than male scientists. Thus, the findings suggest that women s representation in science is related to the attitudes of male scientists regarding gender, work, and family. And although female scientists often hold quite similar attitudes as male scientists, there is considerable cross-country variation in how progressive the attitudes are and how similar men's and women's attitudes are. Implications for women's access to elite science occupations are discussed." (author's abstract)
Quelle: Journal of women and minorities in science and engineering, Vol. 10 (2004) No. 2, S. 161-177
Inhalt: "Women today constitute over half of the U.S. population and almost half of its overall workforce, yet they make up less than a quarter of the science and engineering workforce. Many historical and social factors contribute to this discrepancy, and numerous individual, institutional, and governmental attempts have been made to redress it. However, many of the efforts to promote, include, and engage girls and women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and professions have been made in isolation. At Kansas State University, the authors have begun a systemic effort to increase the participation of girls and women in STEM. This article describes the creation and initial activities of a network of partners that includes universities, school districts, corporations, governmental agencies, and nonprofit organizations, assembled under the aegis of a project supported by funding from the National Science Foundation." (author's abstract)
CEWS Kategorie:Naturwissenschaft und Technik, Netzwerke und Organisationen
Dokumenttyp:Zeitschriftenaufsatz
"Like a family": what works to create friendly and respectful student-faculty interactions
Autor/in:
Whitten, Barbara L.; Foster, Suzanne R.; Duncombe, Margaret L.
Quelle: Journal of women and minorities in science and engineering, Vol. 10 (2004) No. 3, S. 229-242
Inhalt: "The physics community has been concerned about low participation by women for many years. Although some progress has been made, the percentage of women in undergraduate physics is less than half that in mathematics and chemistry. The authors conducted site visits to nine undergraduate physics departments, five with high participation by women and four that are typical of the national average, to learn "what works" in attracting and retaining women as undergraduate physics majors. The results show that friendly and informal relationships between faculty members and students are crucial. These relationships are counterproductive, however, when faculty members transgress appropriate student-faculty boundaries. The authors analyze visits to historically Black colleges and universities, which are extraordinarily productive of female scientists, to learn what works in their department cultures. The authors draw on these site visits to describe models of healthy, supportive, and respectful relationships between faculty members and students." (author's abstract)