The Glass Obstacle Course: Informal and Formal Barriers For Women Ph.D. Students in STEM Fields

Authors

  • Kris De Welde Florida Gulf Coast University
  • Sandra Laursen University of Colorado Boulder

Keywords:

women in STEM, gender, graduate education, STEM careers

Abstract

A new metaphor is proposed for understanding the experiences of women pursuing Ph.D.s in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, based on a study of women in a U.S. Ph.D. program.& The notion of the “glass obstacle course” captures the unequal gendered processes at work in women’s graduate careers, including exclusion from the “Old Boys’ Club,” outright sexism, a lack of women role models, and difficult work-life choices. In-depth interviews elucidate the gendered, invisible (glass), and influential aspects of these barriers and the agentic strategies our respondents utilized to navigate them.& In this way, career pathways for women scientists and engineers are shaped by ideological and structural constraints, informal and formal biases, and active resistance or accommodation to them.& Such accumulated disadvantages can impact women’s attrition from and satisfaction with their chosen STEM fields.

Author Biographies

  • Kris De Welde, Florida Gulf Coast University

    Associate Professor of Sociology

    Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences

  • Sandra Laursen, University of Colorado Boulder

    Co-Director,&Research Associate

    Ethnography and Evaluation Research

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Published

23-11-2011

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 3 (2011)

Section

Research and theoretical papers

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How to Cite

The Glass Obstacle Course: Informal and Formal Barriers For Women Ph.D. Students in STEM Fields. (2011). International Journal of Gender, Science and Technology, 3(3), 571-595. https://genderandset.open.ac.uk/index.php/genderandset/article/view/205