A Longitudinal Study of Gender Stratification in Science and Engineering

该项目是一项纵向研究，探讨妇女和男子从事不同职业和专业职位的文化基础。 该计划是调查10年前进入大学计划成为一名工程师的人，以了解他们现在在做什么以及他们做出了什么选择。 其目的是解释男性和女性对工程职业的承诺的持续差异。 受访者从2003年至2007年每年接受一次调查，2012年和现在的2017年。 男性和女性以相似的数学和科学成绩进入工程学校，并以相似的工程课程成绩毕业。 然而，妇女离开工程专业的比率大大高于男子。虽然妇女和男子对自己的技术专长的信心几乎相当，但妇女报告说，对工程学与她们的抱负相吻合的信心较低。妇女寻求工程职业是为了表达她们致力于改善所有公民生活质量的决心;而且，她们发现这些价值观并没有通过她们的网络或接触职业领域得到肯定。 尽管一再努力进行改革教育和培训并鼓励劳动力参与，但最近的趋势表明，工程专业仍然明显抵制改变其性别组成。STEM中的性别隔离损害了美国在全球经济中的竞争地位以及美国的公平，公正和平等价值观。该研究通过评估工程和STEM领域的困境，为政策辩论做出贡献。我们的理论模型通过测试性别晋升率、工作家庭关系、劳动力的去政治化、性别分层和社交网络，对专业就业中持续存在的性别分层的最重要的争议解释进行了裁决。从方法论上讲，本研究建立在一个独特的纵向面板和数据集，以解释毕业后十年从证书获取到劳动力参与的关键转变;该研究采用了严格的设计，并使用纵向面板来测试因果模型，产生更大的预测能力。具体来说，我们展示了文化图式和网络模式如何再现性别隔离，提供可以更广泛地使用的见解。总而言之，这项研究旨在找出我们理解中的差距，并解决一些与回答STEM职业中性别问题相关的方法论问题。

This project is a longitudinal study that explores the cultural foundations by which women and men take on different occupations and professional positions. The plan is to survey people who entered college 10 years ago planning to be an engineer to discover what they are doing now and what choices they made. The purpose is to explain the persistent differences in men's and women's commitment to a career in engineering. The respondents have been surveyed annually from 2003-2007, in 2012, and now in 2017. Men and women enter engineering school with similar math and science achievement scores and graduate with similar achievements in their engineering courses. Yet, women leave the engineering profession at significantly higher rates than do men. While women and men enjoy nearly comparable levels of confidence in their technical expertise, women report lower levels of confidence that engineering is an appropriate fit with their ambitions. Women seek careers in engineering as an expression of their commitment to improve the quality of life for all citizens; and, they do not find these values affirmed through their networks or exposure to the occupational field. Despite repeated efforts to reform education and training and to encourage workforce participation, recent trends suggest that the engineering profession remains remarkably resistant to change in its gender composition. Gender segregation in STEM compromises the competitive position of the United States in a global economy as well as American values of equity, fairness, and equality. The proposed study contributes to policy debates by assessing the dilemmas plaguing engineering and STEM fields.Our theoretical model adjudicates among the most important contending explanations for continuing gender stratification in professional employment by testing gendered advancement rates, work-family nexus, de-politicization in the workforce, gender stratification and social networks. Methodologically, this study builds from a unique longitudinal panel and dataset to explain the critical transition from credential acquisition to workforce participation ten-years post-graduation; the research exploits a rigorous design, and uses a longitudinal panel to test causal models, yielding greater predictive power. Specifically, we show how cultural schema and network patterns reproduce gender segregation, offering insights that can be used more broadly. In sum, the research is designed to identify gaps in our understanding, as well as to address some of the methodological problems associated with answering outstanding questions about gendering in STEM occupations.