Abstract
This study utilizes interviews from 22 young female engineers from diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds as they first entered the White and male-dominated engineering labor force with the goal of examining: (1) how these women endorsed a gender-blind frame that characterizes their workplaces as fundamentally meritocratic, and alternatively, (2) how they named gender as relevant or salient to experiences and interactions at work. Drawing on the insights of intersectional scholars to answer the previous questions, the study calls attention to how the invocation of these frames differed for women of color compared to their majority White female peers. Results revealed that most respondents strongly endorsed the idea that engineering workplaces are meritocratic and that their gender is not relevant. However, there is also evidence of racial divergence in the themes expressed. For example, some White women expressed a narrative contradictory to meritocracy, discussing their workplaces as like family, while in contrast, women of color often expressed uncomfortable experiences of standing out. Overall, the results suggest that female engineers’ tendency to disavow, either explicitly or implicitly, that discrimination and bias occurs in their workplaces, likely contributes to continued gender and racial inequality; subsequently, programs and interventions to facilitate awareness of inequality are critically needed.
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This research was supported by a grant (5 R24 HD042849, Population Research Center) awarded to the Population Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Health and Child Development and also by a grant from the National Science Foundation (HRD-1432673; PIs: Jennifer Glass and Sharon Sassler; Co-PIs: Yael Levitte, and Catherine Riegle-Crumb). Opinions reflect those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the granting agencies.
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Doerr, K., Riegle-Crumb, C., Russo-Tait, T. et al. Making Merit Work at the Entrance to the Engineering Workforce: Examining Women’s Experiences and Variations by Race/Ethnicity. Sex Roles 85, 422–439 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-021-01233-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-021-01233-6