Identity Salience and Role Acquisition for Women in STEM: A Conceptual Model

• In Event: 30.051 - STEM in Graduate Education

Abstract

The Identity Salience and Role Acquisition for Women in STEM is an emerging model to better understand and interpret the processes by which women in STEM fields successfully navigate and persist towards doctoral degree completion and career entry. To organize this conceptual paper, I first describe the concepts in the model and the reasoning for its’ use in a narrative approach. Then I present a state of understanding about the underrepresentation of women in STEM fields and societal implications in the U.S. context. Lastly, the literature findings that guided the conceptual model’s development are synthesized to show it supports a larger narrative inquiry into female doctoral socialization experiences in STEM.

Author

• Catherine Mary Johnson, Montana State University