Investigation of students’ experiences of gendered cultures in engineering workplaces

Women remain severely under-represented in engineering in Australia as in all Western countries. This limits the pool of talent, standpoints and approaches within the profession. Furthermore, this under-representation equates to restriction of the benefits of being an engineer mainly to men. Gendere...

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Main Authors: Male, S., Gardner, A., Figueroa, E., Bennett, Dawn
Format: Journal Article
Published: Taylor & Francis 2018
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/62828
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author Male, S.
Gardner, A.
Figueroa, E.
Bennett, Dawn
author_facet Male, S.
Gardner, A.
Figueroa, E.
Bennett, Dawn
author_sort Male, S.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Women remain severely under-represented in engineering in Australia as in all Western countries. This limits the pool of talent, standpoints and approaches within the profession. Furthermore, this under-representation equates to restriction of the benefits of being an engineer mainly to men. Gendered workplace experiences have been found to contribute to women leaving the profession. In this study we explore students’ experiences of gendered cultures in engineering workplaces, using interviews with a purposive sample of 13 students (4 male) recruited following a previous survey. Although the overall experience of workplace learning is positive for many students, male and female engineering students reported experiences consistent with masculine cultures. Educators and employers must proactively lead improvements to the culture in engineering workplaces, prepare students for gendered workplaces and support students to reflect during and after workplace experiences. The experiences presented here could be adapted to enhance inclusivity training.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-628282018-11-29T03:36:11Z Investigation of students’ experiences of gendered cultures in engineering workplaces Male, S. Gardner, A. Figueroa, E. Bennett, Dawn Women remain severely under-represented in engineering in Australia as in all Western countries. This limits the pool of talent, standpoints and approaches within the profession. Furthermore, this under-representation equates to restriction of the benefits of being an engineer mainly to men. Gendered workplace experiences have been found to contribute to women leaving the profession. In this study we explore students’ experiences of gendered cultures in engineering workplaces, using interviews with a purposive sample of 13 students (4 male) recruited following a previous survey. Although the overall experience of workplace learning is positive for many students, male and female engineering students reported experiences consistent with masculine cultures. Educators and employers must proactively lead improvements to the culture in engineering workplaces, prepare students for gendered workplaces and support students to reflect during and after workplace experiences. The experiences presented here could be adapted to enhance inclusivity training. 2018 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/62828 10.1080/03043797.2017.1397604 Taylor & Francis fulltext
spellingShingle Male, S.
Gardner, A.
Figueroa, E.
Bennett, Dawn
Investigation of students’ experiences of gendered cultures in engineering workplaces
title Investigation of students’ experiences of gendered cultures in engineering workplaces
title_full Investigation of students’ experiences of gendered cultures in engineering workplaces
title_fullStr Investigation of students’ experiences of gendered cultures in engineering workplaces
title_full_unstemmed Investigation of students’ experiences of gendered cultures in engineering workplaces
title_short Investigation of students’ experiences of gendered cultures in engineering workplaces
title_sort investigation of students’ experiences of gendered cultures in engineering workplaces
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/62828