Gender equality as a resource and a dilemma: interpretative repertoires in engineering education in Sweden
Autor/in:
Silfver, Eva; Gonsalves, Allison J.; Danielsson, Anna T.; Berge, Maria
Quelle: Gender and Education, (2021) , S 1–17
Inhalt: This article explores how female university students’ abilities to present themselves as ‘authentic’ engineers are imbricated with discursive constructions of gender and gender equality. The empirical data comes from interviews and video diaries collected with three female engineering students. The analysis demonstrates the power of the Swedish gender equality discourse to inform the students’ talk as they negotiate their gendered identities to become intelligible as engineering students and engineers. We suggest that gender equality is used as a resource in the repertoires, but we also demonstrate that this discourse becomes a dilemma in that it limits possibilities for gender performances to go beyond old patterns. Despite this, the article still shows three unique ways of negotiating gender and other social categories in different situations connected to university learning and participation in internships.
Schlagwörter:discourse; Diskurs; engineering; Gleichstellungspolitik; Identität; Identitätsbildung; Ingenieurwissenschaft; Schweden; Studentin; Sweden
CEWS Kategorie:Naturwissenschaft und Technik, Studium und Studierende
Quelle: Journal of Further and Higher Education, (2021) , S 1–14
Inhalt: The transition of early career researchers into academic posts is understood to be a crucial career step and marks a point at which representation of women declines significantly. The research adopts a participatory qualitative research methodology through career narrative interviews and group discussions with women engineers recently appointed into academic posts. It was found that academic careers are ‘hoped for’, but not described as a straightforward option in terms of either securing tenure or future career development. The collective career paths outlined were rarely linear and featured key moments of crisis and self-doubt, culminating in ‘tentative’ career identity formation in the face of gendered career structures. There is evidence of a pre-emptive and continuing uncertainty about the feasibility of an academic career that begins years before embarking on a PhD. The distinctive contribution of the study is the consideration of gendered early processes of forming an academic identity and ongoing collective experiences of becoming an academic.
Schlagwörter:akademische Karriere; early career researchers; Gender; Ingenieurwissenschaft; soziale Konstruktion; transition; Übergangsphase; wissenschaftlicher Nachwuchs
CEWS Kategorie:Berufsbiographie und Karriere, Naturwissenschaft und Technik, Wissenschaft als Beruf, Geschlechterverhältnis
Inhalt: "This eye-opening book identifies factors that impede the success of women in STEM professions and demonstrates the negative impact of sexual harassment on women’s physical health, mental health, and job performance. Focusing specifically on the narratives of women in higher education, the authors illuminate the structural and systemic barriers facing women working as graduate students, faculty, and administrators. Drawing on insights from the #metoo and #timesup movements as well as the Brett Kavanaugh Senate hearings, this book:
Provides real-life narratives of women from diverse cultural backgrounds and gender identities struggling in unhealthy workplace environments
Validates women working in STEM fields who feel isolated in workplaces of hostility, marginalization, and invalidation
Celebrates the achievements of women who negotiate and achieve success amid workplace hostilities
Recommends specific practices women can engage and employers can apply to ensure women’s safety and career prosperity"
Schlagwörter:#MeToo; academia; MINT; sexual harassment; STEM; woman scientist
CEWS Kategorie:Naturwissenschaft und Technik, Wissenschaft als Beruf, Sexuelle Belästigung und Gewalt
Dokumenttyp:Monographie
Systemic inequalities for LGBTQ professionals in STEM
Autor/in:
Cech, Erin A.; Waidzunas, Tom
Quelle: Science Advances, 7 (2021) 3
Inhalt: Researchers have documented race and gender inequality in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) for decades. Do lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) professionals face parallel experiences of disadvantage in STEM? Using representative survey data from 21 STEM professional societies (Nsample = 25,324; NLGBTQ = 1006), this paper presents multidimensional and methodologically robust documentation of 5 dimensions of LGBTQ inequality in STEM. Controlling for variation by demographic, discipline, and job factors, LGBTQ STEM professionals were more likely to experience career limitations, harassment, and professional devaluation than their non-LGBTQ peers. They also reported more frequent health difficulties and were more likely to intend to leave STEM. These trends were similar across STEM disciplines and employment sectors. We found no differences by LGBTQ status in education level, work effort, or job commitment. These findings reveal LGBTQ status as a clear axis of inequality in STEM and motivate further research into the mechanisms producing such outcomes.
Schlagwörter:Diversity; inequality; LGBTQ; STEM
CEWS Kategorie:Diversity, Naturwissenschaft und Technik
The Gender Pay Gap Revisited with Big Data: Do Methodological Choices Matter?
Autor/in:
Strittmatter, Anthony; Wunsch, Conny
Quelle: (IZA Discussion Paper, 14128), 2021.
Inhalt: The vast majority of existing studies that estimate the average unexplained gender pay gap use unnecessarily restrictive linear versions of the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition. Using a notably rich and large data set of 1.7 million employees in Switzerland, we investigate how the methodological improvements made possible by such big data affect estimates of the unexplained gender pay gap.
We study the sensitivity of the estimates with regard to i) the availability of observationally comparable men and women, ii) model flexibility when controlling for wage determinants, and iii) the choice of different parametric and semiparametric estimators, including variants that make use of machine learning methods.
We find that these three factors matter greatly. Blinder-Oaxaca estimates of the unexplained gender pay gap decline by up to 39% when we enforce comparability between men and women and use a more flexible specification of the wage equation. Semi-parametric matching yields estimates that when compared with the Blinder-Oaxaca estimates, are up to 50% smaller and also less sensitive to the way wage determinants are included.
Schlagwörter:common support; data feminism; gender inequality; gender pay gap; machine learning; matching estimator; model specification
CEWS Kategorie:Arbeitswelt und Arbeitsmarkt, Naturwissenschaft und Technik
The Gender Wage Gap among Ph.D. Holders: Evidence from Italy
Autor/in:
Alfano, Vincenzo; Cicatiello, Lorenzo; Gaeta, Giuseppe Lucio; Pinto, Mauro
Quelle: The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, 21 (2021) 3, S 1107–1148
Inhalt: This paper contributes to the literature on the gender wage gap by empirically analyzing those workers who hold the highest possible educational qualification, i.e., a Ph.D. The analysis relies on recent Italian cross-sectional data collected through a survey on the employment conditions of Ph.D. holders. The Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition analysis and quantile decomposition analysis are carried out, and the selection of Ph.D. holders into employment and STEM/non-STEM fields of specialization is taken into account. Findings suggest that a gender gap in hourly wages exists among Ph.D. holders, with sizeable differences by sector of employment and field of specialization.
Schlagwörter:gender pay gap; Italien; Italy; Phd; Post-doc; science as a profession; STEM; wissenschaftliche Karriere
CEWS Kategorie:Arbeitswelt und Arbeitsmarkt, Naturwissenschaft und Technik, Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung, Wissenschaft als Beruf
Inhalt: A recent TPT call for papers asks for “more research … about how to tear down and/or overcome the barriers to success that the world, and science, and academia, and the culture of physics put in the way of those who are not white and male.” Women make up only 20% of bachelor’s degree recipients in physics. Hispanic people comprise less than 8%, with Black people accounting for less than half that number. While the representation of Hispanic people appears to be increasing over the last 10 years, the same is not true for Black people, nor is it true for women.
Herausgeber/in:
D’Ignazio, Catherine; Klein, Lauren F.
Quelle: Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press (<Strong> ideas series), 2020.
Inhalt: "We have seen through many examples that data science and artificial intelligence can reinforce structural inequalities like sexism and racism. Data is power, and that power is distributed unequally. This book offers a vision for a feminist data science that can challenge power and work towards justice. This book takes a stand against a world that benefits some (including the authors, two white women) at the expense of others. It seeks to provide concrete steps for data scientists seeking to learn how feminism can help them work towards justice, and for feminists seeking to learn how their own work can carry over to the growing field of data science. It is addressed to professionals in all fields where data-driven decisions are being made, as well as to communities that want to better understand the data that surrounds them. It is written for everyone who seeks to better understand the charts and statistics that they encounter in their day-to-day lives, and for everyone who seeks to better communicate the significance of such charts and statistics to others. This is an example-driven book written with a broad audience of scholars, students, and practitioners in mind. It offers a way of thinking about data, both their uses and their limits, that is informed by direct experience, by a commitment to action, and by the ideas associated with intersectional feminist thought"--
A Global Approach to the Gender Gap in Mathematical, Computing and Natural Sciences : How to Measure it, How to Reduce it? - Gender Gap in Science project: Final report
CEWS Kategorie:Europa und Internationales, Wissenschaft als Beruf, Naturwissenschaft und Technik, Geschlechterverhältnis, Sexuelle Belästigung und Gewalt
Quelle: Opladen: Verlag Barbara Budrich (Politik und Geschlecht - kompakt, 3), 2020. 188 S
Inhalt: Francesca Schmidt entwirft einen neuen Gesellschaftsvertrag des Digitalen. Anhand von zwei zentralen Themen- und Diskussionsfeldern, „Digitale Gewalt“ und „Überwachung versus Privatheit“, skizziert sie, wie eine geschlechtergerechte digitale Welt aussehen könnte. Dabei schafft die Autorin einen historischen Zusammenhang, indem sie auf Diskussionen aus den 80er und 90er Jahren und vor allem den Cyberfeminismus Bezug nimmt.
Netzpolitik für und in der digitalen Gesellschaft ist einem steten Wandel unterworfen. Dem noch im Entstehen begriffenen Politikfeld fehlen bislang tiefergehende feministische Analysen für diesen Wandlungsprozess. Diese erste Einführung stellt einen Beitrag zur Schließung dieser Lücke dar. Bisherige Entwicklungslinien, Erkenntnisse und Standpunkte werden zusammengeführt, um daraus entsprechende Visionen und Perspektiven zu entwickeln.