Summary Blog - Women in Engineering

Throughout the semester, I have been observing and interviewing the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. It is commonly known that women in the Engineering Industry are often treated with disrespect within the workplace, and much less research has been done on how female students are treated within the Engineering major. Because of this, I thought it would be the perfect gendered group to find more about for my Gender Identity Project.

For this assignment, I was required to spend 2-3 hours in observation. I chose to attend a senior lab and a Process Control course. I spent 3 hours observing in the lab, and 1 hour observing the course. The first thing that was said by a male student to me in the lab was, “What are you interviewing Brock (my husband) for? What you’re having for dinner?” Although meant in fun, I personally took offense to the joke. Interestingly enough, the women are all in the same group for lab, so there was minimal interaction between the males and females. In the classroom, although the atmosphere was laid back, it remained professional. Overall, the professor just lectured, and the students listened and took notes.

The most interesting part of my project is the interviews. I interviewed 2 male students (Matt and Brock), 4 female students (Maggie, Laura, Erica, and Dani), and 1 professor (Hunter). I wasn’t expecting to focus my project on jokes about women that take place within the major and I hadn’t even had a question about it, but the concept came up in my first interview, so I decided to explore it more. To my surprise, jokes were the largest theme across the interviews. The men and women had very different views and opinions about the jokes. The men did not see them as a big deal at all and that the women are not affected by the jokes and that they can take it (Matt, Brock & Hunter), but the women were affected and offended by them. Additionally, the women did not feel that they could say anything about the jokes because the men would just tell them that they were overreacting (Maggie, Erica, Laura, & Dani). Although the jokes are meant lightheartedly, they still have an affect on those they are directed towards. Sadly, nobody is meant to be hurt in the process, but there is simply misunderstanding.

Overall, this project taught me a lot, and I hope it has the same effect on persons that have the opportunity to view my video. I was reminded that language is powerful. What you say has a great effect on others, whether you realize it or not. Additionally, the project has taught me that I need to be more careful with my humor and sarcasm. I don’t always know who hears or overhears and how it affects those who hear it. I don’t know their perspective or circumstances, and what I say can actually cause harm, even if it isn’t meant to.

The following video is my creative artifact for my Gender Identity Project:

References

Brock, Personal Communication, April, 5, 2012.

Dani, Personal Communication, April, 12, 2012.

Erica, Personal Communication, April 12, 2012.

Hunter, Personal Communication, April, 5, 2012.

Laura, Personal Communication, April, 12, 2012.

Maggie, Personal Communication, April, 12, 2012.

Matt, Personal Communication, April, 5, 2012.

Concept Application Blog

Concept Application Blog

Concept: Abstract Worker

Definition: A bodiless, sexless, emotionless worker that does not procreate.

            Although an abstract worker is supposed to be genderless, as chapter 9 illustrates, it is in fact male. The engineering industry exploits this ideal to an even greater extreme. Women in the engineering field undergo a socialization process that women in other studies don’t have to face (Arendt, Litera &Buzzanell, 2008). Additionally, these women use several coping strategies in order to attempt to fit in, such as being one of the boys or accepting gender discrimination (Powell & Dainty, 2009).

            As discussed in the previous blog post, women in the engineering industry face significant challenges in reference to their sex and the expression of their gender. My process for exploring this for the rest of the semester is going to start with sitting in on at least three different engineering classes, and one engineering lab at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. After my observations, I am going to interview two female engineering students, two male engineering students, and one engineering instructor on issues concerning gender in the classroom. After observing and interviewing, I am going to analyze the data I’ve collected, and I’m hoping to discover if a similar atmosphere exists in engineering classes as they do in the professional industry.

The following videos are a great explanation of more of the information I would like to explore and learn through the rest of my project for the semester:

References

Arendt, C., Dohrman, R., Litera, N., & Buzzanell, P. (2008). 'Women Don't Belong in Engineering': Using an unCONVENTIONal Narrative to Expand Socialization Theory. Conference Papers -- National Communication Association, 1.

Powell, A., Bagilhole, B., & Dainty, A. (2009). How women engineers do and undo gender: Consequences for gender equality. Gender, Work And Organization, 16(4), 411-428. doi:10.1111/gwao.2009.16.issue-410.1111/j.1468-0432.2008.00406.x