Collaborative Research: Science of Broadening Participation -- From School to Work: A Longitudinal Study of Gender Stratification in Science and Engineering

美国马萨诸塞州理工学院Brian Rubineau康奈尔大学Carroll Seron加州大学欧文分校从学校到工作的科学：科学和工程领域性别分层的纵向研究摘要美国和其他发达经济体在能源、环境和国防等技术领域面临前所未有的挑战。 解决这些挑战需要一个多样化的，受过高等教育的劳动力，在科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）的专业知识。造成美国STEM专业人员产量不足的原因是一些STEM专业中存在明显的性别隔离，特别是在工程领域。因此，我们的人口要少得多，无法从中培养所需的工程专业知识。 该项目旨在帮助我们了解STEM领域持续存在性别隔离的原因。PI进行的早期研究对一组男性和女性进行了为期五年的调查和采访，从大学教育的第一年开始。 该小组包括计划主修工程学的青年男女，他们在科学和数学方面取得了堪称典范的成就。然而，经过四年的工程教育，在大学毕业和进入劳动力市场之前不久，计划从事工程职业的女性比例明显低于男性。分析表明，更多的妇女比男子报告说，对自己有能力从事工程职业的信心较低。目前的项目在下一个职业阶段重新审视这些男性和女性-在他们预期的大学毕业后的5年，以及他们在劳动力市场的早期。 在这个时候，该项目将收集数据，使研究人员能够比较个人（信心），组织（工作场所相关）和社会网络因素的作用，以解释性别特定的职业轨迹决定，特别是关于STEM领域。 在方法上，本研究扩展了一个独特的纵向数据集，以解释从大学和研究生培训到专业劳动力的关键转变。该理论模型通过检验个人和性别差异的因果关系、组织层面的过程以及关于社交网络功效的社会资本理论，对职业就业中持续存在的性别分层做出了最重要的解释。更广泛的影响这项研究的结果可能有助于解释STEM领域的减员模式和持久性，特别是工程领域。 这一重要问题关系到私营和公共部门的雇主、现有和未来的专业人员以及高等教育机构。 此外，STEM领域持续的性别隔离可能会损害美国在全球经济中的竞争地位。 这项研究的结果也可能有助于制定旨在提高国家科学竞争力的政策。

SES-1123747Susan Silbey Massachusetts Institute of TechnologySES-1123905Brian Rubineau Cornell UniversitySES-1124169Carroll Seron University of California-IrvineScience of Broadening Participation -- From School to Work: A Longitudinal Study of Gender Stratification in Science and EngineeringAbstractThe United States and other advanced economies face unprecedented challenges in technical areas such as energy, environment, and defense. Solving these challenges requires a diverse, highly educated labor force, with professional expertise in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Contributing to the problem of under-production of STEM professionals in the U.S. is the pronounced gender segregation in some STEM professions, especially in engineering. As a consequence, we have a much smaller population from which to develop the needed engineering expertise. This project seeks to help us understand what causes continued gender segregation in STEM fields.An earlier study conducted by the PIs surveyed and interviewed a group of men and women for five years, beginning with the first year of their college education. This panel included a disproportionate number of young men and women planning to major in engineering, who had demonstrated exemplary achievement in science and mathematics. Yet, after four years of engineering education, shortly before college graduation and entry into the labor market, a significantly smaller percentage of the women than the men planned to pursue careers in engineering. Analyses showed that more women than men reported lower confidence in their ability to have a career in engineering. The current project revisits these men and women at the next career stage -- 5 years after their anticipated college graduation, and during their early years in the labor market. At this time, the project will collect data that enables researchers to compare the role of individual (confidence), organizational (workplace-related), and social network factors to explain gender specific career track decisions, especially regarding STEM fields. Methodologically, this study expands a unique longitudinal dataset to explain the critical transition from college and post-graduate training to the professional workforce. The theoretical model used adjudicates among the most important contending explanations for persistent gender stratification in professional employment by testing social psychological theories of causal individual and gender differences, organization-level processes, and social capital theories concerning the efficacy of social networks. Broader ImpactsFindings from this research may help explain patterns of attrition from and persistence in STEM fields, and engineering in particular. This important issue is of interest to private- and public-sector employers, current and future professionals, as well as institutions of higher education. Moreover, persistent gender segregation in STEM could compromise the competitive position of the United States in a global economy. Findings from this study may also contribute to policy developments aimed at improving the nation's scientific competitiveness.