The recent study, Genders in/of Engineering, was conducted by sociologist Dr Wendy Faulkner of the University of Edinburgh and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.
It addressed the premise that the retention and progression of women engineers is impaired not only because of well-rehearsed structural issues (e.g., lack of flexible work practices), but also because of subtle, 'taken for-granted' gender dynamics. It sought to investigate these dynamics by using observational methods - job shadowing men and women engineers in a range of workplaces - as well as interviews.
There are three main conclusions with relevance to efforts to improve the representation of women to engineering:
- recruitment efforts need to promote engineering as a 'broad church' and avoid appealing to gender stereotypes;
- there is room for improved practice in supporting, and so retaining, junior engineers (male and female) in university and during early years learning on-the-job;
- in various subtle ways, engineering workplaces often operate as 'men's spaces' in which women are in/visible - concerted efforts are needed to nurture more 'inclusive' workplace cultures.
A short briefing elaborating these conclusions is available from the UKRC
http://tinyurl.com/fexw3
The fuller research report is available from the UKRC
http://tinyurl.com/fexw3
Added 9.3.06