The impact of culture on women engineering students' gendered and professional identities Abigail

242 Pages·2009·1.69 MB·English

The (Un) Balancing Act: The impact of culture on women
engineering students' gendered and professional identities

By

Abigail Powell

A Doctoral Thesis

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements
for the award of
Doctor of Philosophy
Loughborough University

May 2009

© Abigail Powell 2009

Abstract
This thesis examines the impact of engineering cultures on women engineering
students’ gendered and professional identities. It is simultaneously focused on
exploring how identity shapes, and is shaped by, women’s experiences of engineering
cultures and the relationship between gendered and professional identities. The
research is set within the context of existing research on women in engineering, much
of which has focused either on women’s experiences in industry or experiences of staff
in academia, which does not acknowledge the importance of higher education (HE) as
a gatekeeper to the engineering professions. Furthermore, despite numerous
initiatives aimed at increasing the percentage of women entering engineering, the
proportion of women studying engineering has remained stable, around fifteen percent,
for the last few years.
The research is grounded in an interpretivist approach, although it adopts a
multimethod research design. Specifically it draws upon qualitative interviews with 43
women and 18 men engineering students, a questionnaire with responses from 656
engineering undergraduates and two focus groups with 13 women engineering
students from seven departments at one university. These datasets are analysed with
the aid of NVivo and SPSS to explore women engineering students’ career choices;
women’s experiences of the HE engineering culture; the relationship between
engineering education culture and women’s identities; whether there are cultural
nuances between engineering disciplines; and, implications for strategies to attract and
retain more women in engineering.
Key findings from the research are that women and men make career choices based
on similar factors, including the influence of socialisers, knowledge of the engineering
professions, skills, ability and attributes, and career rewards. However, the extent to
which each of these factors are important is gendered. The research also highlights
key characteristics of the HE engineering culture, including competition, camaraderie,
gendered humour, intensity, more theoretical than practical, help and support for
women students and reinforcement of gender binaries. These findings all suggest that
women are assimilated into the engineering culture or, at least, develop coping
mechanisms for surviving in the existing culture. These strategies reveal a complex
and difficult balancing act between being a woman and being an engineer, in claiming
a rightful place as an engineer, denying gendered experiences and becoming critical of
other women. The research also tackles two key issues, rarely discussed in the extant
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literature. Firstly the help and support women students receive from lecturers and other
staff, and the negative impact this has, and may continue to have, on women.
Secondly, the analysis of discipline differences shows that design and technology is
significantly different from other engineering disciplines in terms of culture(s) and
women’s experiences.
The thesis concludes that women’s enculturation into engineering results in their ‘doing
gender’ in a particular way. This means that women’s implicit and explicit devaluing
and rejection of femaleness, fails to challenge the gendered cultures of engineering
and, in many ways, upholds an environment which is hostile to women.
Keywords:
Career choice, culture, engineering, gender, higher education, identity, multi-methods,
professionalisation, women.

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Acknowledgements
I would like to express my thanks to the people who have helped and supported me
during the time it took me to write this thesis.
I would like to thank my supervisors, Professors Barbara Bagilhole and Andrew Dainty,
who have provided me with continued encouragement, guidance, valuable questions
and insightful discussion throughout the PhD process and my time in Loughborough. I
have learnt much from working with them and know that they will continue to be
mentors and friends throughout my journey in academia.
Thanks are also due to my husband, Lee, and my parents, Diane and Denis, who have
provided unrelenting support and encouragement to pursue my interests and goals. I
must also commend my parents for their excellent proof-reading skills! I would also like
to acknowledge all my family and friends, but especially Kate, Sarah, Emma and
Jessica, who have supported me through the highs and lows, with whom I have shared
many interesting debates and who have also provided a much needed escape from
work.
I also wish to recognise the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the
Engineering Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (engCETL) for funding the
research which enabled me to undertake my PhD. Last, but by no means least, I thank
my participants for their cooperation in the research, and without whom this thesis
would not have been possible.
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Contents Summary
Abstract i
Acknowledgements iii
Contents iv
List of Figures x
1. Introduction 1
2. Gendered Cultures and Identities 15
3. Entering the Engineering Professions 39
4. Methodology 59
5. Women Engineering Students and Career Choice 88
6. Women’s Experiences of Higher Education 123
7. Discussion 156
8. Summary and Conclusions 178
References 190
Appendices 210

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Detailed Contents
ABSTRACT i
Acknowledgements iii
Contents iv
List of Figures x
1. INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Background 1
1.2 Research questions, aims and objectives 3
1.3 Contribution to knowledge 6
1.4 Limitations and further research 6
1.5 Key concepts 7
1.5.1 Engineering 7
1.5.2 Gender 8
1.5.3 Masculinity and femininity 8
1.5.4 Identity 9
1.5.5 Organisational cultures 9
1.6 Methodological overview 10
1.7 The researcher and the research 11
1.8 Structure 11
1.9 Summary 14
2. GENDERED CULTURES AND IDENTITIES 15
2.1 Organisational cultures 15
2.1.1 Gendered cultures 17
2.1.2 Engineering cultures 19
2.1.3 Academic cultures 25
2.1.4 Higher education and curriculum 26
2.2 Identities 27
2.2.1 Managing gender 28
2.2.2 Gender conscienceness 30
2.2.3 Gendered identities in engineering 32
2.3 Summary 38
3. ENTERING THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION 39
3.1 Career choices 39
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3.1.1 Career decision-making 40
3.1.2 The role of gender on career choice 43
3.1.3 Choosing a career in engineering 47
3.2 Engineering in higher education 49
3.2.1 HE as gatekeeper to engineering 49
3.2.2 HE engineering cultures 51
3.2.3 Curriculum content 54
3.3 Summary 57
4. METHODOLOGY 59
4.1 Aims and objectives 59
4.2 Philosophical background 60
4.3 Methodological approach 62
4.3.1 Qualitative research 62
4.3.2 Quantitative research 63
4.3.3 Combining qualitative and quantitative research 64
4.4 Adopting a multi-method design 64
4.5 Phase one: Interviews 65
4.5.1 Access and selection 66
4.5.2 Interview design 67
4.5.3 Interview summary 70
4.6 Phase two: Questionnaire 70
4.6.1 Access and selection 71
4.6.2 Questionnaire design 72
4.6.3 Questionnaire summary 73
4.7 Phase three: Focus groups 75
4.7.1 Access and selection 77
4.7.2 Focus group design 78
4.8 Data analysis 79
4.8.1 Qualitative data analysis 79
4.8.2 Quantitative data analysis 79
4.9 Ethical issues 80
4.9.1 Researcher integrity 80
4.9.2 Ethics and research participants 81
4.10 Evaluation of research 84
4.11 Summary 87
5. WOMEN ENGINEERING STUDENTS AND CAREER CHOICES 88
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5.1 Socialisers 88
5.1.1 Parental influences 88
5.1.2 Childhood experiences 91
5.1.3 Influence of teachers 94
5.2 Knowledge of the engineering professions 95
5.2.1 Careers advice 95
5.2.2 Awareness of engineering professions 97
5.2.3 Insight courses 101
5.3 Skills, ability and attributes 102
5.3.1 Subject ability 102
5.3.2 Practical skills 106
5.3.3 Perceived gender differences 107
5.4 Career rewards 108
5.4.1 Career prospects 108
5.4.2 Salary 109
5.4.3 Employability 111
5.5 Identity 113
5.6 Choosing a degree course not a career 114
5.7 Perceived barriers to engineering for women 118
5.8 Summary 122
6. WOMEN’S EXPERIENCES OF HIGHER EDUCATION 123
6.1 Course experiences 123
6.1.1 Relevance 126
6.1.2 Difficulty of course 127
6.1.3 Course content 131
6.1.4 Assessment methods 134
6.2 Relationships with other students 136
6.2.1 Peer camaraderie 136
6.2.2 Competitiveness 139
6.2.3 Communication 141
6.2.4 Humour between students 142
6.3 Relationships with other women 143
6.4 Relationships with staff 144
6.4.1 Lecturers 145
6.4.2 Staff humour 147
6.4.3 Help and support 147
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6.4.4 Personal tutor system 152
6.5 Summary 155
7. DISCUSSION 156
7.1 Career choices 156
7.1.1 Socialisers 157
7.1.2 Knowledge of the engineering professions 157
7.1.3 Skills, abilities and attributes 158
7.1.4 Career rewards 159
7.2 Experiences of HE engineering cultures 161
7.2.1 Course experiences 162
7.2.2 Relationships with other students 163
7.2.3 Relationships with staff 164
7.2.4 Help and support 165
7.2.5 Anomaly of design and technology 166
7.3 Women engineering students’ identities 168
7.3.1 Claiming a rightful place 169
7.3.2 Subtle discrimination 170
7.3.3 Queen-bee syndrome 171
7.3.4 Assimilation 172
7.3.5 An (un) balancing act? 173
7.4 Summary 176
8. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 178
8.1 Summary 178
8.2 Objectives 178
8.2.1 Women engineering students’ career choices and 178
the gendering of career decisions
8.2.2 Women engineering students’ experiences of HE 179
engineering cultures
8.2.3 The relationship between engineering education 180
cultures and women engineering students’ gendered and
professional identities
8.2.4 Women’s attitudes, experiences and environment by 181
engineering discipline
8.2.5 Implications for strategies and policies to attract and 182
retain more women in engineering education and careers
8.3 Research questions 183
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