Engineering Studies 

About: Engineering Studies is an academic journal published by Taylor & Francis. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Engineering education & Engineering. It has an ISSN identifier of 1937-8629. Over the lifetime, 199 publications have been published receiving 3542 citations.

Doing gender in engineering workplace cultures. II. Gender in/authenticity and the in/visibility paradox

Abstract: Part I of this paper (in Volume 1, Issue 1) presented fieldwork observations about everyday interactions in engineering workplace cultures, which tend to make it easier for men than for women to build working relationships and to ‘belong’ in engineering. This second part extends the analysis, by examining the ‘in/visibility paradox’ whereby women engineers are simultaneously highly visible as women yet invisible as engineers. This paradox is a key to understanding how women engineers experience engineering workplace cultures, and a major factor underlying the poor retention and progression of women in engineering. Women engineers' invisibility as engineers is evident in the greater effort required of them to be taken seriously as ‘real engineers’ and the undermining of confidence which can ensue. Their visibility as women brings contradictory pressures – to be ‘one of the lads’ but at the same time ‘not lose their femininity’. These in/visibility dynamics have a significant cumulative effect, not least be...

Navigating the heteronormativity of engineering: the experiences of lesbian, gay, and bisexual students

Abstract: While much is known about the experiences of women and racial/ethnic minorities in male-dominated fields such as engineering, the experiences of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) identifying individuals remain unstudied. Our article breaks this silence with an exploratory study of the ways LGB students at a major research university in the western United States both experience and navigate the climate of their engineering college. Based on interviews and focus groups, we find that both pervasive prejudicial cultural norms and perceptions of competence particular to the engineering profession can limit these students' opportunities to succeed, relative to their heterosexual peers. Nevertheless, through coping strategies which can require immense amounts of additional emotional and academic effort, LGB students navigate a chilly and heteronormative engineering climate by ‘passing’ as heterosexual, ‘covering’ or downplaying cultural characteristics associated with LGB identities, and garnering expertise to ma...

Doing gender in engineering workplace cultures. I. Observations from the field

Abstract: It is frequently claimed that women who enter engineering have to ‘fit in’ to ‘a masculine culture’, but there is little systematic evidence on this. This article presents observations about gender dynamics in engineers' everyday interactions, drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in three companies. The overall picture is mixed. Engineers are generally respectful in their interactions, but there are subtle dynamics which make it easier for (more) men than women engineers to build effective work relationships and to ‘belong’. Topics of conversation are generally quite wide-ranging and inclusive amongst close colleagues, but lean heavily on gender-stereotypical subjects with outsiders. Most engineers take some care not to cause offence to others, but in some workplaces the humour and chat are very sexualised and sexist. Engineering can accommodate a range of masculinities, but some are more influential than others. Throughout, we see that doing the job often involves ‘doing gender’. Workplace cultures not only...

Designs on development: engineering, globalization, and social justice

Abstract: This article critically appraises ‘engineering for development’ initiatives and seeks to imagine new models of interaction that incorporate social justice goals more effectively. In recent years, interest in engineering for development has surged within engineering communities in the US and around the world. While worthy of recognition and praise for directing engineers' attention to the problems arising from global economic inequity, many engineering-for-development programs share problematic assumptions about technology's role in community development and fail to grapple with the economic and cultural structures that direct (implicitly or explicitly) most development interventions. Using a case study approach, this article draws out some of these assumptions and shows how they impede the achievement of social justice goals – both in the context of specific development interventions as well as in the context of engineering as a professional activity. The first of two cases involves an interdisciplinary c...

Reconstructing engineering from practice

Abstract: Using data from interviews and field observations, this article argues that engineering needs to be understood as a much broader human social performance than traditional narratives that focus just on design and technical problem-solving. The article proposes a model of practice based on observations from all the main engineering disciplines and diverse settings in Australia and South Asia. Observations presented in the article reveal that engineers not only relegate social aspects of their work to a peripheral status but also many critical technical aspects like design checking that are omitted from prevailing narratives. The article argues that the foundation of engineering practice is distributed expertise enacted through social interactions between people: engineering relies on harnessing the knowledge, expertise and skills carried by many people, much of it implicit and unwritten knowledge. Therefore social interactions lie at the core of engineering practice. The article argues for relocating engine...