Masculinist Disciplinary Culture and Women's Leadership in STEM in Academia

• In Event: 25.038 - Contemporary Considerations of STEM in Organizations of Higher Education

Abstract

Women represent only 24.5% of positional leaders in academia (Lennon, 2013). The experiences of women in male-dominated domains vary by discipline (Becher & Trowler, 2001; Bystydzienski & Bird, 2006), and it is not known how women in STEM define leadership in their discipline and whether they understand these leadership expectations to be gendered. The purpose of this qualitative study is to compare gendered leadership expectations between biology and engineering, to address how gendered experiences in masculinist cultures shape women’s leadership. Methodology includes interviews and document analysis. Preliminary findings indicate that masculinist culture shapes the leadership style of women in engineering more strongly than in biology. Women leaders in both disciplines experienced a masculinist culture and a gendered organization (Acker, 1990).

Author

• Rebecca Rose Borowski, University at Buffalo - SUNY