DISRUPTING MASCULINITIES

Abstract

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes 1. For comment on women's representation in the engineering profession in Australia, see Bureau of Labour Market Research (1985, 1); Lewis, Harris, and Cox (2000 Lewis , Sue , Ros Harris , and Barbara Cox . 2000 . Engineering a better workplace: A diversity guide for the engineering profession . Canberra : National Women in Engineering Committee, Institution of Engineers, Australia . [Google Scholar], 6–7); Roberts and Ayre (2001 Roberts , Pam , and Mary Ayre . 2001 . Did she jump or was she pushed? A study of women's retention in the engineering workforce . Canberra : National Women in Engineering Committee, Institution of Engineers, Australia . [Google Scholar]); Crompton, Le Feuvre, and Birkelund (1999 Crompton , Rosemary , Nicky Le Feuvre , and Gunn Elisabeth Birkelund . 1999 . The restructuring of gender relations within the medical profession . In Restructuring gender relations and employment: The decline of the male breadwinner Rosemary Crompton . Oxford : Oxford University Press . [Google Scholar]); and Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data in Ayre (2001 Ayre , Mary . 2001 . Women engineers: The continuing crusade, a review of the literature relating to the work satisfaction of professional women engineers . Transactions of Multi-disciplinary Engineering GE25 : 1 – 34 . [Google Scholar], 8). 2. The project followed upon the survey conducted in 2000 by the Women in Engineering Committee of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, which sought to develop an understanding of the reasons behind the high female attrition rate in engineering. The project was funded by the University of South Australia and the Institution of Engineers. The sample group was drawn from respondents to a survey of women engineers conducted by the Women in Engineering Committee in 1999 (APESMA 1999 Apesma (Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists & Managers, Australia) . 1999 . Professional engineer remuneration survey report . Melbourne : APESMA . [Google Scholar]; Roberts and Ayre 2001 Roberts , Pam , and Mary Ayre . 2001 . Did she jump or was she pushed? A study of women's retention in the engineering workforce . Canberra : National Women in Engineering Committee, Institution of Engineers, Australia . [Google Scholar]). State-based women in engineering groups supplied the authors with a small number of additional contacts for interview. Original interview data are in the care of the authors. 3. See the work of Hacker (1989 Hacker , Sally . 1989 . Pleasure, power and technology: Some tales of gender, engineering, and the cooperative workplace . Boston : Unwin Hyman . [Google Scholar]); Roberts and Lewis (1996 Roberts , Pamela , and Sue Lewis . 1996 . The national position paper for women in engineering for the review of engineering education . Melbourne : Swinburne University of Technology . [Google Scholar]); McLean et al. (1997 Mclean , Christopher , Sue Lewis , Jane Copeland , Sue Lintern , and Brian O'neill . 1997 . Masculinity and the culture of engineering . Australasian Journal of Engineering Education 7 : 143 – 56 . [Google Scholar]); and McIlwee and Robinson (1992). 4. See also Hacker (1989 Hacker , Sally . 1989 . Pleasure, power and technology: Some tales of gender, engineering, and the cooperative workplace . Boston : Unwin Hyman . [Google Scholar]). 5. See also Cockburn (1983 Cockburn , Cynthia . 1983 . Brothers: Male dominance and technological change . London : Pluto . [Google Scholar], 1985 Cockburn , Cynthia . 1985 . Machinery of dominance: Women, men and technical know-how . London : Pluto . [Google Scholar]). 6. See also Stepulevage (2001 Stepulevage , Linda . 2001 . Becoming a technologist: Days in a girl's life . In Virtual gender: Technology, consumption and identity Eileen Green and Alison Adam . New York : Routledge . [Google Scholar]), who challenges the disassociation of women and technology, drawing attention to the familiarity of young white working-class girls to technologies associated with their parents’ work and the industrial areas in which they live. 7. The data also suggest that the numbers of women are lower in the more ‘masculine’ areas of engineering like mechanical, electrical and aeronautical, compared to say chemical and civil. Increases in numbers of women in civil engineering, however, may reflect the popularity of environmental engineering among women (Lewis, Harris, and Cox 2000 Lewis , Sue , Ros Harris , and Barbara Cox . 2000 . Engineering a better workplace: A diversity guide for the engineering profession . Canberra : National Women in Engineering Committee, Institution of Engineers, Australia . [Google Scholar], 9).