Gender and Engineering I Gender and Socialization Becoming and Engineer A A Man s World The culture of engineering is based on a history of male experiences and so it has come to favor a masculine identity 2 1 B Male Identity and Engineering Main Argument women who become engineers have to work harder because they have to overcome the male dominated culture of engineering She goes on to argue 3 related points 1 2 3 Women have to negotiate their identities so that they align with masculinity e g rational hardworking and tough Women have to make an extra effort to manage men perceive them especially because most senior engineers are men Women still have to overcome the sexist culture that has traditionally be a part of engineering Through the period of training women learn to adapt to the masculine culture project confidence in their abilities and show solidarity with others in their profession 670 As Dryburgh puts it engineers are associated with the real tangible mechanical world They concern themselves with the powerful forces of nature and technology rather than the ethereal world of philosophy and art They are strong action oriented and ready to make a difference in the physical world of concrete realities This identity is a very masculine one 678 WOMEN S RESPONSE 1 2 Make an extra effort to prove that they too are part of the real and concerned with the real Attempt to excuse the existence of sexism in engineering and when it is experienced to deny its experience II Explaining the Absence of Women A Biology vs Environment 2 Gender Socialization Environment Since engineering is seen as more of a masculine profession women have been socialized to disregard engineering as a potential career Biological Traits ON AVERAGE men have natural skills that give them an advantage in engineering e g spatial skills B Family Planning Self Assessment and Professional Role Confidence Women s expectations that they will assume primary responsibility for family care lead them to abandon male typed professions for more family friendly typed ones Cech et al 2011 do not find any empirical evidence of this for women and ironically find that is more true for men Family Planning Self Assessment Women s low self assessments of the skills required for the core intellectual tasks of a profession net of their actual performance leaves them less likely to pursue and persist in male dominated professions Cech et al 2011 find evidence in this theory Professional Role Confidence Those with lower levels of professional role confidence will be more likely self select out of a profession In engineering women are more likely to develop lower levels of professional role confidence and so they are more likely to abandon careers Professional Role Confidence An individual s confidence in their ability to fulfill the expected roles competencies and identity features of a successful member of their profession 3