Career Path Barriers of Women Doctoral Students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) Disciplines

abstract: The under-representation of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields indicates the presence of gender related barriers that impacted the persistence of women in science and engineering doctoral studies. The purpose of this study was to investigate the barrier...

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Other Authors: Chaudhuri, Dola (Author)
Format: Dissertation
Language:English
Published: 2011
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.I.9337
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spelling ndltd-asu.edu-item-93372018-06-22T03:01:57Z Career Path Barriers of Women Doctoral Students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) Disciplines abstract: The under-representation of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields indicates the presence of gender related barriers that impacted the persistence of women in science and engineering doctoral studies. The purpose of this study was to investigate the barriers of women doctoral students in STEM fields which identified supporting factors for them as well. This study also tried to determine if there was any difference in perceiving barriers among three disciplines - engineering, life sciences and natural sciences. An online questionnaire (19 Likert-type questions and one open-ended question) was sent to women STEM doctoral students studying at the Arizona State University (ASU). Questions were based on some factors which might act as obstacles or supports during their doctoral studies. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted. Factors such as work-life balance, time-management, low self-confidence, lack of female role model, fewer numbers of women in science and engineering classes, and male dominated environment revealed as significant barriers according to both the analyses but factors such as difficulty with the curriculum, gender discrimination, and two-career problem were chosen as barriers only in the free response question. Positive treatment from advisor, family support, availability of funding, and absence of sexual harassment assisted these women continuing their PhD programs at ASU. However, no significant difference was observed with respect to perceiving barriers among the three groups mentioned above. Recommendations for change in science and engineering curricula and active recruitment of female faculty are discussed to reduce or at best to remove the barriers and how to facilitate participation and retention of more women in STEM fields especially at the doctoral level. Dissertation/Thesis Chaudhuri, Dola (Author) Baker, Dale (Advisor) Sandlin, Jennifer (Committee member) Edwards, Vicki (Committee member) Arizona State University (Publisher) Science Education eng 88 pages M.A. Curriculum and Instruction 2011 Masters Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.I.9337 http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ All Rights Reserved 2011
collection NDLTD
language English
format Dissertation
sources NDLTD
topic Science Education
spellingShingle Science Education
Career Path Barriers of Women Doctoral Students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) Disciplines
description abstract: The under-representation of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields indicates the presence of gender related barriers that impacted the persistence of women in science and engineering doctoral studies. The purpose of this study was to investigate the barriers of women doctoral students in STEM fields which identified supporting factors for them as well. This study also tried to determine if there was any difference in perceiving barriers among three disciplines - engineering, life sciences and natural sciences. An online questionnaire (19 Likert-type questions and one open-ended question) was sent to women STEM doctoral students studying at the Arizona State University (ASU). Questions were based on some factors which might act as obstacles or supports during their doctoral studies. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted. Factors such as work-life balance, time-management, low self-confidence, lack of female role model, fewer numbers of women in science and engineering classes, and male dominated environment revealed as significant barriers according to both the analyses but factors such as difficulty with the curriculum, gender discrimination, and two-career problem were chosen as barriers only in the free response question. Positive treatment from advisor, family support, availability of funding, and absence of sexual harassment assisted these women continuing their PhD programs at ASU. However, no significant difference was observed with respect to perceiving barriers among the three groups mentioned above. Recommendations for change in science and engineering curricula and active recruitment of female faculty are discussed to reduce or at best to remove the barriers and how to facilitate participation and retention of more women in STEM fields especially at the doctoral level. === Dissertation/Thesis === M.A. Curriculum and Instruction 2011
author2 Chaudhuri, Dola (Author)
author_facet Chaudhuri, Dola (Author)
title Career Path Barriers of Women Doctoral Students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) Disciplines
title_short Career Path Barriers of Women Doctoral Students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) Disciplines
title_full Career Path Barriers of Women Doctoral Students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) Disciplines
title_fullStr Career Path Barriers of Women Doctoral Students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) Disciplines
title_full_unstemmed Career Path Barriers of Women Doctoral Students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) Disciplines
title_sort career path barriers of women doctoral students in stem (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) disciplines
publishDate 2011
url http://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.I.9337
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