scholarly journals Do Family Privileges Bring Gender Equality? Instrumentalism and (De) Stereotyping of STEM Career Aspiration among Chinese Adolescents

Social Forces ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 99 (1) ◽  
pp. 230-254
Author(s):  
Ran Liu

Abstract When studying the persistent underrepresentation of a women in science, engineering, technology, and mathematics (STEM) fields across different countries, some evidence shows a paradox of affluence: gender differences in STEM aspirations and outcomes are found to be more pronounced in more developed, postindustrial countries and among students from more affluent families. The argument of “indulging gendered selves” provides an explanation: students in more affluent settings are less compelled to pursue lucrative STEM careers and more encouraged to indulge gendered passions as a form of self-expression. Extending this argument, this paper uses nationally representative data from China to examine the effect of family privileges on adolescents’ STEM aspirations. Two distinct mechanisms are identified: instrumentalism, which considers the instrumental calculation of material security and economic returns in developing career aspirations, and (de) stereotyping, which considers whether family privileges cultivate or alleviate gender stereotypes. Findings show that less privileged girls such as ethnic minorities and those having rural hukou tend to have higher instrumental motivation to learn math, indicating an instrumentalism mechanism; on the other hand, girls with privileges such as higher parental education and more books at home enjoy more gender-egalitarian values, indicating a de-stereotyping mechanism. Moreover, Internet access at home as a privilege can foster gender stereotypes and decrease students’ motivation to learn math, and the latter association is stronger for girls than boys. Results suggest the importance of distinguishing the instrumentalism and (de) stereotyping mechanisms and the need for educational programs to refute gender stereotypes.

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 217
Author(s):  
Reem Alkhammash

This study explores the discourse of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics or medicine (STEM) fields produced by Twitter users on social media, with a particular focus on language usage and function in this discourse. The exploration of the women in STEM discourse was achieved by collecting a body of tweets using popular hashtags addressing women in STEM from the last week of October 2017. Following a corpus-based approach, this study analyzes the most frequent evaluative adjectives and 4-grams. Results from the analysis of evaluative adjectives show that Twitter users represent women in STEM fields positively by using positive adjectives such as great, amazing, inspirational etc. Furthermore, the analysis of the most frequent 4-grams reveals that Twitter users employ hashtags such as #ilooklikeasurgeon and #womeninSTEM to promote the work of women in STEM fields, show their appreciation of women working and studying in STEM and challenge prevalent gender stereotypes of STEM professions. It was found that the production of women in STEM discourse by most Twitter users has contributed to increasing the strength of women in the STEM community in social media, evidenced by their practices of advocacy, networking and challenging gender biases online. The discourse of women in STEM in social media is an example of discursive activism that focuses on the larger dialogue of women in STEM and highlights dominant forms of sexism and gendered stereotypes of women’s work in male dominated professions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-15
Author(s):  
Catherine Macdonald

Research on gender bias in science has often focused on the effects of gender stereotypes or a lack of female role models on the recruitment and retention of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields, or on the discrimination women scientists face. Systemic bias fuels, and is cyclically reinforced by, media representations of scientists (who are most often presented as white men). While many proposed interventions to address gender inequality in science focus on changing women’s beliefs or behaviour to help them succeed, more inclusive representation of scientists could meaningfully contribute to reshaping the cultural beliefs that act on both genders to deny women opportunities and produce inhospitable learning and working environments.


Author(s):  
Jacqueline D. Spears ◽  
Ruth A. Dyer ◽  
Suzanne E. Franks ◽  
Beth A. Montelone

2021 ◽  
pp. 0044118X2110046
Author(s):  
Veronica Fruiht ◽  
Jordan Boeder ◽  
Thomas Chan

Research suggests that youth with more financial and social resources are more likely to have access to mentorship. Conversely, the rising star hypothesis posits that youth who show promise through their individual successes are more likely to be mentored. Utilizing a nationally representative sample ( N = 4,882), we tested whether demographic characteristics (e.g., race, SES) or personal resources (e.g., academic/social success) are better predictors of receiving mentorship. Regression analyses suggested that demographic, contextual, and individual characteristics all significantly predicted access to mentorship, specifically by non-familial mentors. However, conditional inference tree models that explored the interaction of mentorship predictors by race showed that individual characteristics mattered less for Black and Latino/a youth. Therefore, the rising star hypothesis may hold true for White youth, but the story of mentoring is more complicated for youth of color. Findings highlight the implications of Critical Race Theory for mentoring research and practice.


Author(s):  
Akash Patel ◽  
Jana L. Hirschtick ◽  
Steven Cook ◽  
Bukola Usidame ◽  
Ritesh Mistry ◽  
...  

The use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) among youth in the United States has increased rapidly in the past decade. Simultaneously, while youth cigarette smoking has declined considerably, youth are still more likely to use menthol cigarettes than any other age group. We used nationally representative data on 15–17-year-olds from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study and the National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) (2013–2017) to better understand current cigarette (by menthol flavoring) and ENDS use in the US. We calculated weighted population prevalence estimates across years for multiple patterns of current cigarette and ENDS use (i.e., exclusive menthol cigarette, exclusive non-menthol cigarette, exclusive ENDS, dual ENDS and menthol cigarette, and dual ENDS and non-menthol cigarette) by sex, race/ethnicity, parental education level, household income, and homeownership. Overall, both exclusive menthol and non-menthol cigarette use declined from 2013–2017. Exclusive ENDS use increased, particularly among youth who were non-Hispanic White or had a higher socioeconomic status (measured by parental education, household income, and homeownership). Dual use of ENDS with either menthol or non-menthol cigarettes did not change significantly. Monitoring changes in these sociodemographic patterns will help inform future youth tobacco prevention strategies.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Filippo Pavanello ◽  
Teresa Randazzo

<p>Do remittances improve how households adapt to global warming? We explore this question exploiting a nationally-representative household data from Mexico - a country that experiences a large flow of remittances. Mexican households respond to excess heat by purchasing air conditioning and remittances can be used to adopt and use cooling devices that contribute to maintaining thermal comfort at home. Our results show that recipient households have a higher probability to adopt air conditioning at home with important implication on electricity consumption. The effect is even larger for those households living in high-temperature areas showing an important role of remittances in the climate adaptation process.</p>


2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andy M. Connor ◽  
Sangeeta Karmokar ◽  
Chris Whittington

This paper sets out to challenge the common pedagogies found in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education with a particular focus on engineering. The dominant engineering pedagogy remains “chalk and talk”; despite research evidence that demonstrates its ineffectiveness. Such pedagogical approaches do not embrace the possibilities provided by more student-centric approaches and more active learning. The paper argues that there is a potential confusion in engineering education around the role of active learning approaches, and that the adoption of these approaches may be limited as a result of this confusion, combined with a degree of disciplinary egocentrism. The paper presents examples of design, engineering and technology projects that demonstrate the effectiveness of adopting pedagogies and delivery methods more usually attributed to the liberal arts such as studio based learning. The paper concludes with some suggestions about how best to create a fertile environment from which inquiry based learning can emerge as well as a reflection on whether the only real limitation on cultivating such approaches is the disciplinary egocentrism of traditional engineering educators.


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