Cultural Barriers and Familial Resources for Negotiation of Engineering Careers Among Young Women: Relational Dialectics Theory in an Asian Perspective

ABSTRACT

The study takes a critical approach to understanding how girls/women discursively navigate engineering career discourses with their families by using the lens of relational dialectics theory 2.0. In particular, the study examines 28 interviews of Asian women engineers to explore the ways in which cultural meanings of engineering careers influence families’ messages towards girls in choosing their future careers. Contrapuntal analysis shows that competing culturally circulating discourses intersect with familial material/discursive resources through which girls make sense of the support and barriers they experience from parents and other family members regarding their engineering careers. Findings have considerable implications for the role of culture in familial understanding of engineering careers and how families contribute towards sustaining young women in engineering from an Asian perspective.

Funding

The study was funded by Bilsland Strategic Initiatives Grant, Graduate School, Purdue University, Indiana.

Additional information

Funding

The study was funded by Bilsland Strategic Initiatives Grant, Graduate School, Purdue University, Indiana.