Mitigating the leaky pipeline: Women engineers' professional identity development as engineers in the field
Open Access
Author:
Park, Mi Hee
Graduate Program:
Workforce Education and Development
Degree:
Doctor of Philosophy
Document Type:
Dissertation
Date of Defense:
August 28, 2023
Committee Members:
Wesley Donahue, Major Field Member Mark Threeton, Major Field Member Catherine Berdanier, Outside Unit & Field Member Susan Land, Program Head/Chair William Rothwell, Chair & Dissertation Advisor
Keywords:
women engineers engineering identity professional identity career development
Abstract:
Closing a gap of significant gender disparity in the engineering workforce has been addressed as a remedy to resolve this workforce shortage issue. Based on the accumulated knowledge on this issue, researchers are suggesting that women engineers’ experiences in K-12, higher engineering education, and the engineering workplace should all be understood holistically to recruit and develop a women workforce. Although it is well-documented that engineering identity is a critical factor for students’ career decision-making in education, professional identity development for engineers in the workplace has received little attention. Thus, this paper explores the identity development of women engineers in industry at early, mid, and late stages of their careers. Using qualitative interview methods with 14 participants, findings from this work indicate that professional identity as an engineer in industry develops through the multiple identities development, negotiation, and consolidation processes. The findings of this study show that emerging leadership identity is critical for women engineers to enhance their careers. Thus, it is critical to help women students to be exposed to leadership experience in STEM during K-12 and higher education before they are asked to demonstrate leadership skills in the workplace.