Toward institutional transformation: warming the chilly climate for women in STEM through macrostructural change
IntroductionAlthough the demand for graduates with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) credentials continues to climb, women remain underrepresented as both students and faculty in STEM higher education. Compounding social forces can hinder organizational change for gender equit...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2024-04-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Education |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2024.1328574/full |
| _version_ | 1797216052045676544 |
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| author | Kristen Erichsen Kristen Erichsen Emily D. Šaras Emily D. Šaras Lara Perez-Felkner Lara Perez-Felkner |
| author_facet | Kristen Erichsen Kristen Erichsen Emily D. Šaras Emily D. Šaras Lara Perez-Felkner Lara Perez-Felkner |
| author_sort | Kristen Erichsen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | IntroductionAlthough the demand for graduates with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) credentials continues to climb, women remain underrepresented as both students and faculty in STEM higher education. Compounding social forces can hinder organizational change for gender equity in STEM, constraining institutions and individuals within them. This study advances macrostructural theory to examine the impact of gender composition (including group size and heterogeneity) of women faculty on structural change, as measured by gender desegregation of STEM degree earners. We advance this theory by incorporating faculty rank, rather than treating group composition as a static category.MethodThis study draws on a federal repository of data to assess institutional change in the share of STEM women faculty in the U.S. We employ quasi-experimental methods to explore the following research questions: (1) does hiring more women onto an institution’s faculty roster shrink the gender gap among STEM degree earners? and (2) does segregation of faculty by gender within institutions shape the gender gap among STEM degree earners?FindingsWhile institutional efforts herald their efforts of hiring more women faculty, our findings indicate that gender desegregation of STEM degree earners partially depends on the promotion of women faculty to tenure.DiscussionImplications for theory, policy, and practice are discussed, with a focus on institutional-level change. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T11:39:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c383c17266214376bc10eb387c0bf16c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2504-284X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T11:39:49Z |
| publishDate | 2024-04-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Education |
| spelling | doaj.art-c383c17266214376bc10eb387c0bf16c2024-04-10T04:18:15ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Education2504-284X2024-04-01910.3389/feduc.2024.13285741328574Toward institutional transformation: warming the chilly climate for women in STEM through macrostructural changeKristen Erichsen0Kristen Erichsen1Emily D. Šaras2Emily D. Šaras3Lara Perez-Felkner4Lara Perez-Felkner5Knowli Data Science, Tallahassee, FL, United StatesDepartment of Sociology, College of Social Sciences and Public Policy, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, United StatesKnowli Data Science, Tallahassee, FL, United StatesDepartment of Sociology, College of Social Sciences and Public Policy, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, United StatesFlorida State University, Tallahassee, FL, United StatesCenter for Postsecondary Success, College of Education, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, United StatesIntroductionAlthough the demand for graduates with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) credentials continues to climb, women remain underrepresented as both students and faculty in STEM higher education. Compounding social forces can hinder organizational change for gender equity in STEM, constraining institutions and individuals within them. This study advances macrostructural theory to examine the impact of gender composition (including group size and heterogeneity) of women faculty on structural change, as measured by gender desegregation of STEM degree earners. We advance this theory by incorporating faculty rank, rather than treating group composition as a static category.MethodThis study draws on a federal repository of data to assess institutional change in the share of STEM women faculty in the U.S. We employ quasi-experimental methods to explore the following research questions: (1) does hiring more women onto an institution’s faculty roster shrink the gender gap among STEM degree earners? and (2) does segregation of faculty by gender within institutions shape the gender gap among STEM degree earners?FindingsWhile institutional efforts herald their efforts of hiring more women faculty, our findings indicate that gender desegregation of STEM degree earners partially depends on the promotion of women faculty to tenure.DiscussionImplications for theory, policy, and practice are discussed, with a focus on institutional-level change.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2024.1328574/fullgender equityacademic workforcehigher educationmacrostructural theorySTEM higher educationaugmented inverse probability weighted |
| spellingShingle | Kristen Erichsen Kristen Erichsen Emily D. Šaras Emily D. Šaras Lara Perez-Felkner Lara Perez-Felkner Toward institutional transformation: warming the chilly climate for women in STEM through macrostructural change Frontiers in Education gender equity academic workforce higher education macrostructural theory STEM higher education augmented inverse probability weighted |
| title | Toward institutional transformation: warming the chilly climate for women in STEM through macrostructural change |
| title_full | Toward institutional transformation: warming the chilly climate for women in STEM through macrostructural change |
| title_fullStr | Toward institutional transformation: warming the chilly climate for women in STEM through macrostructural change |
| title_full_unstemmed | Toward institutional transformation: warming the chilly climate for women in STEM through macrostructural change |
| title_short | Toward institutional transformation: warming the chilly climate for women in STEM through macrostructural change |
| title_sort | toward institutional transformation warming the chilly climate for women in stem through macrostructural change |
| topic | gender equity academic workforce higher education macrostructural theory STEM higher education augmented inverse probability weighted |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2024.1328574/full |
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