IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v9y2022i1d10.1057_s41599-022-01136-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A study of factors affecting women’s lived experiences in STEM

Author

Listed:
  • Elena Prieto-Rodriguez

    (University of Newcastle)

  • Kristina Sincock

    (University of Newcastle)

  • Regina Berretta

    (University of Newcastle)

  • Juanita Todd

    (University of Newcastle)

  • Sarah Johnson

    (University of Newcastle)

  • Karen Blackmore

    (University of Newcastle)

  • Erica Wanless

    (University of Newcastle)

  • Anna Giacomini

    (University of Newcastle)

  • Lauren Gibson

    (University of Newcastle)

Abstract

The number of women employed in STEM in Australia is increasing, however, they continue to remain underrepresented in most industries. A significant corpus of literature on female underrepresentation has emerged in the past 20 years, however, many of those studies focus on educational access and retention and not many look at the lived experiences of women after they have left higher education. In this article, we take a different stance and explore the heterogeneous experiences of female STEM professionals in regional Australia. Through the qualitative analysis of 25 interviews, we learn what women have endured, accepted, and valued on their individual STEM journeys. While these journeys are often quite different, our interviewees independently reported having experienced similar societal prejudices and possessing similar personality traits. Our data reveals that resilience and determination proved vital for these women, as did a strong early interest in STEM. Our interviews also unearth issues in which women’s opinions are fiercely divided, such as whether positive discrimination has been a barrier or an enabler for their careers. Based on what we have learnt from their accounts, we argue that these women have ‘survived’ their work environments despite structural barriers, only due to their determination, resilience and fervent interest.

Suggested Citation

  • Elena Prieto-Rodriguez & Kristina Sincock & Regina Berretta & Juanita Todd & Sarah Johnson & Karen Blackmore & Erica Wanless & Anna Giacomini & Lauren Gibson, 2022. "A study of factors affecting women’s lived experiences in STEM," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-11, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:9:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-022-01136-1
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-022-01136-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-022-01136-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41599-022-01136-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marc Goulden & Mary Ann Mason & Karie Frasch, 2011. "Keeping Women in the Science Pipeline," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 638(1), pages 141-162, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Fernanda Staniscuaski & Arthur V. Machado & Rossana C. Soletti & Fernanda Reichert & Eugenia Zandonà & Pamela B. Mello-Carpes & Camila Infanger & Zelia M. C. Ludwig & Leticia Oliveira, 2023. "Bias against parents in science hits women harder," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-9, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kwiek, Marek & Szymula, Łukasz, 2024. "Growth of Science and Women: Methodological Challenges of Using Structured Big Data," SocArXiv w34pr, Center for Open Science.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:9:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-022-01136-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.nature.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.