‘Yes, I do belong’: the women who stay in engineering

Abstract

Despite considerable work to encourage girls and women to enter the profession, engineering continues to be heavily male dominated, a situation which has implications for quality and gender equity. The gender disparity is accentuated by women being more likely to leave the profession than men. A number of studies have investigated why women leave engineering. This study focuses on the converse question, ‘What makes some women stay when many others leave?’ A survey of a cohort of Australian female civil engineers found an unusually high retention rate. Interviews with volunteers from the group revealed that they had all entered the profession strongly believing in themselves as engineers, a belief that had endured despite the difficulties they encountered. As found in other studies, many of these women had experienced being isolated, overlooked and marginalised in the prevailing masculine culture of engineering workplaces. Their persistence in the profession appeared to be connected to steps they had taken to ensure that their work environment matched their expectations of interesting, challenging and enjoyable work in a supportive and inclusive culture. The implications of their experiences for other women engineers and for engineering managers are suggested.

Keywords:

• women in engineering
• minority
• workplace culture
• commitment
• persistence
• family friendly

Notes

¹NSF, Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities; WISE, Statistics Summary, 2; Kaspura, Engineers Australia Survey, 1.

²Preston, “Why Have All the Women Gone?”; CAWMSET, Land of Plenty.

³APESMA, Women in the Professions; Hunt, Why do Women Leave Science and Engineering?; Fouad and Singh, Stemming the Tide; Kaspura, Engineers Australia Survey, 8–9.

⁴Bagilhole et al., Researching Cultures; Hunt, Why Do Women Leave Science and Engineering?; Fouad and Singh, Stemming the Tide.

⁵Roberts and Ayre, Counting the Losses; Mills et al., “Engineering in Australia”; Mills et al., CREW Revisited in 2007; Kaspura, Engineers Australia Survey.

⁶Faulkner, “Doing Gender in Engineering Workplace Cultures. I”; Faulkner, “Doing Gender in Engineering Workplace Cultures. II”; Hewlett et al., The Athena Factor, 7–25; Buse, Ideal Selves, 20, 27; Watts, “Allowed into a Man's World,” 49; Fouad and Singh, Stemming the Tide, 55.

⁷Buse, “Individual Factors Predicting Career Commitment”; Cech et al., “Professional Role Confidence”; Hughes, “Are the Predictors of Women's Persistence in STEM Painting the Full Picture?”; Plett et al., “Engineering Identity and the Workplace Persistence”.

⁸Cech et al., “Professional Role Confidence,” 643; Plett et al., “Engineering Identity and the Workplace Persistence,” 14.

⁹Buse, “Individual Factors Predicting Career Commitment,” 13.

¹⁰Buse, “Individual Factors Predicting Career Commitment”.

¹¹Ibid., 4.

¹²Ibid., 15.

¹³Gill et al., “Oh You Must Be Very Clever,” 228–32.

¹⁴Hewlett et al., The Athena Factor, 7–12.

¹⁵Buse, “Individual Factors Predicting Career Commitment,” 5.

¹⁶Cech et al., “Professional Role Confidence”.

¹⁷Ibid., 647.

¹⁸Ibid., 648 (italics added).

¹⁹Hughes, “Are the Predictors of Women's Persistence in STEM Painting the Full Picture?”.

²⁰Ibid., 552.

²¹Plett et al., “Engineering Identity and the Workplace Persistence”.

²²Ibid., 13.

²³Ibid.

²⁴Faulkner, “Doing Gender in Engineering Workplace Cultures. I,” 5 (italics in original).

²⁵Faulkner, “Doing Gender in Engineering Workplace Cultures. I,” 16.

²⁶Hunt, Why do Women Leave Science and Engineering? 19.

²⁷Watts, “Allowed into a Man's World”.

²⁸Ibid., 45–8.

²⁹Tonso, “Student Engineers and Engineer Identity”.

³⁰Ibid., 298.

³¹Pierrakos et al., “On the Development of a Professional Identity,” 5; Hughes, “Are the Predictors of Women's Persistence in STEM Painting the Full Picture?” 555.

³²Roberts and Ayre, Counting the Losses; Mills et al., CREW Revisited in 2007.

³³Engineers Australia, The Australian engineers’ professional body.

³⁴Mills et al., CREW Revisited in 2007.

³⁵Ayre et al., “Not All Women Leave”.

³⁶Marinelli and Calais, “Painting the Picture,” 8.

³⁷Kaspura, The Engineering Profession, 80–1.

³⁸Directorate General for Research, Creating Cultures of Success, 67; Bagilhole et al., Researching Cultures, 40–2; Hewlett et al., The Athena Factor, 54–5.

³⁹Mills et al., “Engineering in Australia,” 142.

⁴⁰Sheppard et al., “What is Engineering Practice?” 432–5; Faulkner, “Nuts and Bolts and People,” 346; Anderson et al., “Understanding Engineering Work and Identity,” 80; Hewlett et al., The Athena Factor, 13.

⁴¹Faulkner, “Nuts and Bolts and People,” 350; Hewlett et al., The Athena Factor, 7–10; Sappleton and Takruri-Risk, “Gender Subtext,” 293–5.

⁴²Bagilhole et al., Researching Cultures, 44; Faulkner, “Nuts and Bolts and People,” 348–9; Hewlett et al., The Athena Factor, 28–30; Sappleton et al., “Organisational Culture,” 10–12.

⁴³Faulkner, “Nuts and Bolts and People,” 336; Trevelyan, “Technical Coordination,” 198.

⁴⁴Murphy et al., “Signaling Threat,” 883–4; Bagilhole et al., Researching Cultures, 13–14; Hewlett et al., The Athena Factor, 14–20; Faulkner, “Doing Gender in Engineering Workplace Cultures. II”.

⁴⁵Faulkner, “Doing Gender in Engineering Workplace Cultures. II,” 172.

⁴⁶Ibid., 179.

⁴⁷Mills et al., “Engineering in Australia,” 19; Bagilhole et al., Researching Cultures, 40–2.

⁴⁸Buse, “Individual Factors Predicting Career Commitment,” 4.

⁴⁹Buse, Ideal Selves, 30; Buse, “Individual Factors Predicting Career Commitment,” 7.

⁵⁰Buse, “Individual Factors Predicting Career Commitment,” 15; Cech et al., “Professional Role Confidence,” 658–9; Fouad and Singh, Stemming the Tide, 37–8; Plett et al., “Engineering Identity and the Workplace Persistence,” 13.

⁵¹Powell et al., “How Women Engineers Do and Undo Gender,” 421; Hughes, “Are the Predictors of Women's Persistence in STEM Painting the Full Picture?” 566.

⁵²Mills et al., “Engineering in Australia,” 28; Faulkner, “Doing Gender in Engineering Workplace Cultures. I,” 16–17; “Doing Gender in Engineering Workplace Cultures. II,” 184–6; Hughes, “Are the Predictors of Women's Persistence in STEM Painting the Full Picture?” 566–7.

⁵³Faulkner, “Doing Gender in Engineering Workplace Cultures. II,” 185; Frehill, “SWE Retention Study,” 39; Buse, “Individual Factors Predicting Career Commitment,” 15; Fouad and Singh, Stemming the Tide, 58–61.