Group Identity, Self-Concept, and Gender Bias: A Regression Analysis of Female Student Experiences Within Emergency Management-Related Higher Education Programs

Wier Lisa (), King Lewis Amy (), McAleavy Tony () and Li Xiangyu (Dale) ()
Additional contact information
Wier Lisa: Fire and Emergency Management Program, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA
King Lewis Amy: Construction Engineering Technology Program, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA
McAleavy Tony: Fire and Emergency Management Program, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA
Li Xiangyu (Dale): Fire and Emergency Management Program, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA

Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, 2025, vol. 22, issue 2, 223-245

Abstract: Disasters and catastrophes are increasing in frequency and devastation meaning that emergency management in the United States will remain a vital, though currently male-dominated, career-field. This underrepresentation has a significant and detrimental impact on the efficacy and development of theory, policy, and practice as the related body of knowledge does not adequately reflect the diversity of the communities that practitioner’s serve. This study, therefore, critically evaluates the impact of group identity and self-concept on female student experiences of gender bias within emergency management-related higher education programs which act as gateways to the career field. The findings indicate that gender bias within these programs primarily occurs from male peers with female students feeling pressured to work harder than male students to succeed. Occurrences were, however, less frequent than in other male-dominated fields such as construction, and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Barriers remain so efforts to promote educational inclusivity and career field representation are necessary to address United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Five which seeks to “achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”.

Keywords: emergency management; higher education; group identity; self-concept; gender bias (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1515/jhsem-2023-0010 (text/html)
For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bpj:johsem:v:22:y:2025:i:2:p:223-245:n:1002

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.degruyte ... urnal/key/jhsem/html

DOI: 10.1515/jhsem-2023-0010

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management is currently edited by Irmak Renda-Tanali

More articles in Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management from De Gruyter
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Peter Golla ().