‘Oh you must be very clever!’ High‐achieving women, professional power and the ongoing negotiation of workplace identity

Abstract

This paper uses a gender perspective to problematise the connection between high educational achievement and a fulfilling professional career. Drawing data from an Australian study of women working as professional engineers in a range of locations, the paper investigates the ways in which the identities produced in the women’s educational experiences require further negotiation in dealing with the realities of their divergent workplaces. Through a deconstruction of the power relationships that form a key feature of the women’s reported workplace experience, the women are shown to engage in a range of tactics in the effort to achieve a degree of workplace acceptance and some professional recognition. The paper concludes by urging renewed attention to changing engineering education and workplace culture if the profession is to attract and retain able women.

Keywords:

• educational achievement
• professional identity
• engineering
• workplace culture

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the University of South Australia for funding the study through a collaborative grant in partnership with the Institution of Engineers Australia. Also special thanks to Dr Wendy Bastalich, the Research Assistant on the project, whose work in data gathering was central to the successful completion of the study.

Notes

1. This survey was commissioned by the Institution of Engineers Australia.