“Girl Power”: Gendered Academic and Workplace Experiences of College Women in Engineering

Kathleen N. Smith and Joy Gaston Gayles
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Kathleen N. Smith: Department of Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development, College of Education, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA
Joy Gaston Gayles: Department of Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development, College of Education, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA

Social Sciences, 2018, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-23

Abstract: Women in engineering continue to experience bias in the field. This constructivist case study uses feminist theory to examine the gendered experiences of graduating senior women engineering students in academic and workplace environments. In each setting we identified three subthemes; in academia: “I don’t think my education is any different,” “Being underestimated constantly,” and “You don’t want to be seen as getting advantages”; in the workplace: “Oh, you’re a girl,” “There’s a lot of sexism,” and Benefits of “girl power.” Overall, findings indicate that women experience bias in both settings, often via implicit bias in academia and with instances of implicit bias, sexism, and sexual harassment occurring even more often in the workplace through internship experiences. The article concludes with suggestions for practice, future research, and strategies to create supportive academic and workplace experiences and environments for women engineers.

Keywords: women; engineering; STEM; undergraduate; academia; work; internships; bias; sexism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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