Social or Economic Goals? The Professional Goal Orientation of Students Enrolled in STEM and Non-STEM Majors in University
Autor/in:
Wolter, Ilka; Ehrtmann, Lisa; Seidel, Tina; Drechsel, Barbara
Quelle: Front. Psychol. (Frontiers in Psychology), 10 (2019)
Inhalt: Various studies try to disentangle the gender-specific competencies or decisions that lead to a career in a STEM field and try to find a way to encourage more women to pursue this kind of career. The present study examines differences in the meaning of work (i.e., their professional goal orientation) of students who are enrolled in STEM or non-STEM programs in tertiary education. Based on the background that gender stereotypes associate women and men with communal or agentic roles respectively, we expected that women in STEM subjects differ in their professional goal orientation from women in non-STEM programs. More precisely, women who are enrolled in a STEM major are expected to be less oriented to social and communal goal orientations than women in non-STEM university programs. In a sample of 5857 second year university students of the German National Educational Panel Study three profiles of professional goal orientation were confirmed in a latent profile analysis. As expected, women were more oriented towards social aspects of occupations, whereas men more likely belonged to a profile with high importance for economic aspects of occupations. Moreover, students enrolled in STEM programs more likely belonged to the profile of economic goal orientation. There was, however, no interaction of gender and STEM program: Women in STEM fields did not differ in their occupational goal orientation from women enrolled in non-STEM programs. Based on these findings and on a goal congruity perspective, future interventions aiming at overcoming the underrepresentation of women in STEM fields should consider the individual meaning of work and the goals that are associated with STEM occupations.
‘Mentoring and sponsorship in Higher Educational institutions : Men’s invisible advantage in STEM’?
Autor/in:
O’Connor, Pat; O'Hagan, Angela; Myers, Eva Sophie
Quelle: Higher Education Research and Development, 39 (2019) 4, S 1–14
Inhalt: This article is concerned with the source of men’s invisible advantage in the male dominated disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). It is suggested that this advantage has been obscured by combining sponsorship and mentoring. The research asks: Are men or women most likely to be mentored? Is it possible to distinguish between mentoring and sponsorship? Is there gender variation in either or both of these depending on the source – whether from the academic supervisor, line manager or other senior academics. This qualitative study draws on interview data from 106 respondents (57 men and 48 women) at junior, middle and senior levels, in four universities: one each in Bulgaria, Denmark, Ireland and Turkey. It shows that both men and women received mentoring from their PhD supervisor, albeit with slightly different reported nuances. Men were more likely than women to receive sponsorship in that relationship. Both men and women received sponsorship from the Head of Department, whose wider responsibilities may have reduced homophily. Men were more likely than women to receive sponsorship and mentoring from senior men, with most women indicating a lack of access to such senior academics. By distinguishing between mentoring and sponsorship, this article contributes to our understanding of the way male dominance in STEM is perpetuated and suggests the source of men’s invisible advantage in STEM.
Gender and Race Intersectional Effects in the U.S. Engineering Workforce : Who Stays? Who Leaves?
Autor/in:
Tao, Yu; McNeely, Connie L.
Quelle: GST (International Journal of Gender, Science and Technology), 11 (2019) 1, S 181–202
Inhalt: In many countries, engineering remains a field in which women are highly underrepresented, raising questions not only of equal access, but also of underutilized and wasted potential in engineering talent. The United States is one such country, with women representing only 15% of the engineering workforce. Moreover, even if initially entering the field, women in the United States are more likely than men to leave engineering altogether. This study further analyzes this situation, recognizing that women are a demographically varied group and questioning how differences among them might be reflected in engineering participation outcomes. Emphasizing race and gender, and employing logit regression and marginal effects tests, it considers intersectional configurations to examine probabilities of staying and working in engineering occupations among recipients of engineering degrees. Different gendered patterns are revealed for working in engineering among Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, African Americans, and White Americans. Moreover, gender and race groups present varying retention rates in engineering occupations over time. Findings also confirm inter- and intra-group gender and racial/ethnic differences and disparities that would not have been revealed without attention to intersectional effects on participation in engineering fields.
Rezension: Inka Greusing: „Wir haben ja jetzt auch ein paar Damen bei uns“ - Symbolische Grenzziehungen und Heteronormativität in den Ingenieurwissenschaften. Opladen u.a.: Budrich UniPress 2018 - Querelles-net, Jg. 20, Nr. 3 (2019)
Autor/in:
Kaiser, Anelis
Quelle: (2019)
Inhalt: Trotz Bemühungen auf Ebene der Gleichstellung sind Frauen nach wie vor im MINT-Bereich an deutschen Hochschulen unterrepräsentiert. Was mögen die Gründe dafür sein? Mit den Methoden der Sozialwissenschaften untersuchen Wissenschaftler*innen die Ursachen für diese Geschlechter-Disbalance. So auch Inka Greusing in ihrer Dissertationsschrift, in der sie auf verschiedene immanente Strukturen in unseren Köpfen, in unserem Verhalten und in den Studiengängen hinweist. Dadurch wird klar, dass Maßnahmen zur Veränderung der Situation nach wie vor notwendig sind. Die Analyse von Inka Greusing stellt einen sorgfältig ausgearbeiteten Beitrag für das Forschungsfeld Gender Studies in den MINT-Fächern dar.
Quelle: Front. Sociol. (Frontiers in Sociology), 4 (2019) , 26 S
Inhalt: Research and popular debate on female underrepresentation in academia has focused on STEM fields. But recent work has offered a unifying explanation for gender representation across the STEM/nonSTEM divide. This proposed explanation, called the fieldspecific ability beliefs (FAB) hypothesis, postulates that, in combination with pervasive stereotypes that link men but not women with intellectual talent, academics perpetuate female underrepresentation by transmitting to students in earlier stages of education their beliefs about how much intellectual talent is required for success in each academic field. This theory was supported by a national survey which found that the disciplines with the fewest women had practitioners who were most likely to think that success in their field requires [talent]/[brilliance]. We test this topdown schema with a nationwide survey of U.S. undergraduates, assessing the extent to which undergraduate beliefs about talent in academia mirror those of academics. We find no evidence that academics transmit their beliefs to undergraduates. We also use a second survey – identical to the first but with each field’s gender ratio provided as added information – to explicitly test the relationship between undergraduate beliefs about gender and talent in academia. The results for this second survey suggest that the extent to which undergraduates rate brilliance as essential to success in an academic field is highly sensitive to this added information for nonSTEM fields, but not STEM fields. Overall, our study offers evidence that, contrary to FAB hypothesis, the STEM/nonSTEM divide principally shapes undergraduate beliefs about both gender and talent in academia.
Schlagwörter:Fächerwahl; Frauen in der Wissenschaft; gender bias; Gender stereotype; Geschlechterstereotyp; MINT; non-STEM divide; quantitative Analyse; STEM; Stereotyp; talent; Underrepresentation of women; Unterrepräsentanz; women in science
CEWS Kategorie:Studium und Studierende, Naturwissenschaft und Technik, Geschlechterverhältnis
The re-production process of gender bias: A case of ICT professors through recruitment in a gender-neutral country
Autor/in:
Tiainen, Tarja; Berki, Eleni
Quelle: Studies in Higher Education, 44 (2019) 1, S 170–184
Inhalt: Women's under-representation in the fields of science and technology is strong; both in software houses and academic posts. We focus on the academic field by gender sensitive analysis of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) academics. The general picture given by statistics' meta-analyses illustrates male dominance even in Finland, which is often presented as a country which values gender equality high. For achieving deeper understanding about the process of gender bias reproduction, we focus on one university and its selection of ICT professors. Although every professorship fulfilling is a situated process, they all together shape a homogeneous male-dominant picture. This paper continues on early gender-focused discussion of Studies in Higher Education by presenting an organisational point of view.
Frauen in der Informatik : Können sie mehr als sie denken? Eine Analyse geschlechtsspezifischer Erfolgserwartungen unter Informatikstudierenden
Autor/in:
Förtsch, Silvia; Schmid, Ute
Quelle: GENDER (GENDER – Zeitschrift für Geschlecht, Kultur und Gesellschaft), 10 (2018) 1, S 130–150
Inhalt: Obwohl ein Anstieg des Frauenanteils in den Informatikstudiengängen zu verzeichnen ist, gilt die IT-Branche nach wie vor als Männerdomäne. Der weibliche Anteil in deutschen IT-Abteilungen beträgt knapp 10 Prozent (Weitzel et al. 2017). Ein Grund für die mangelnde Präsenz der Frauen im IT-Bereich könnte die geringere Erfolgserwartung der Studentinnen im Studium sein. In diesem Beitrag wird untersucht, ob vorangegangene Schulleistungen sowie intrinsische Motivation für die Studiengangswahl, nämlich Begabung und Interesse für das Fach, die subjektive Einschätzung des Studienerfolgs von Informatikstudierenden beeinflussen. Obwohl Studentinnen sich im Vergleich zu ihren Kommilitonen in ihren durchschnittlichen Mathematikleistungen nicht signifikant unterscheiden und sie im Durchschnitt die bessere Abiturabschlussnote erzielen, unterschätzen sie sich in ihrem persönlichen Studienerfolg signifikant, insbesondere in stark techniklastigen Informatikstudiengängen. Ebenso können Studentinnen von einer hohen intrinsischen Motivation, hinsichtlich ihrer Erfolgseinschätzungen im Studium nicht profitieren. Die durchgeführte Analyse bezieht sich auf das Datenmaterial aus dem ESF-Forschungsprojekt „Alumnae Tracking“.
Schlagwörter:Geschlecht; Informatik; Motivation; schulische Leistung; Studienerfolg; Studium
CEWS Kategorie:Studium und Studierende, Naturwissenschaft und Technik, Geschlechterverhältnis
Multiple Masculinities and Gendered Research Personas : Between experiments, career choice and family
Autor/in:
Pettersson, Helena
Quelle: International Journal of Gender, Science and Technology, 10 (2018) 1
Inhalt: The aim of this study is to analyze multiple masculinity identities among experimental plasma physicists. It is based on ethnographic fieldwork with long term observations in a laboratory and in-depth interviews. The point of departure is that different identities exist side by side and are co constructed among physicists in the laboratory. They are defined and challenged at the same time in everyday work, and are therefore central to those attracted to experimental physics. In this study, masculine identity work is analyzed as boundary work for both masculinity and experimental physics. Physics and identity work can be understood as a process where the performance and daily work is also a way of defining gender. I argue that perspectives from masculinity studies are crucial in order to advance an understanding of gender dynamics within physics communities and enrich the current understanding of the lack of women in physics. Both senior and junior physicists emphasized the importance of a strong scientist identity. The plasma physicists represent a type of double hegemonic masculinity front stage. The scientific ideal is in itself strongly gendered with the ideal image of the scientist.
Guest Editorial: Gender and Masculinities in Careers and Leadership in Higher Education
Autor/in:
Sagebiel, Felizitas; White, Kate
Quelle: International Journal of Gender, Science and Technology, 10 (2018) 1, 6 S
Inhalt: This Special Issue, recognising vertical gender segregation in higher education, combines papers focusing on challenges for women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines in career progression and taking on leadership roles.
Schlagwörter:Führungsposition; Geschlecht; Geschlechtersegregation; Karriereentwicklung; Männlichkeit; MINT
CEWS Kategorie:Berufsbiographie und Karriere, Wissenschaft als Beruf, Naturwissenschaft und Technik, Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung, Geschlechterverhältnis