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Notes
Demographically, their case university is generally representative of STEM in the U.S. Their case institution is 73.8% white, 20.4% Asian, and 5.8% underrepresented racial/ethnic minority (URM) as compared to U.S. STEM averages: 71.5% white, 20.7% Asian, and 7.7% URM. I include these figures to provide background information for comparison, especially outside of the U.S. context. Women represent only 16% of the STEM professors of all ranks at their case university, and 2/3 of these women are mothers (p. 131).
Blair-Loy and Cech’s survey asked STEM professors to rate specific traits (e.g., competitive, good mentor) as “typical of a successful person in my discipline” (p. 172). They also ask professors to assess their own achievement of these traits, as well as to indicate to what extent: “In my department, my research is respected” (p. 198, note 21).
References
Blair-Loy, M. (2003). Competing devotions: Career and family among women executives. Harvard University Press.
Cech, E. (2014). Culture of disengagement in engineering education. Science, Technology, and Human Values, 39(1), 41–72.
Cech, E., & Waidzunas, T. (2021). Systematic inequalities for LGBTQ professionals in STEM. Science Advances, 7(3), abe0933.
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Gammon, A.R. Mary Blair-Loy and Erin A. Cech: Misconceiving Merit: Paradoxes in Excellence and Devotion in Academic Science and Engineering. Sci Eng Ethics 29, 35 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-023-00455-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-023-00455-z