Female Minority Students Research Articles

Sociology of Engineering: Exploring Female Students Social Quest of Engineering at University of Sierra Leone, Fourah Bay College, Freetown, Sierra Leone

Sierra Leonean women and undervalued social minority students persevere to be undervalued in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and attain the shallow segment of undergraduate engineering degrees. The sociological researcher engaged a mixed methods research approach predicated in social networks premise to examine when they first contemplate pursuing engineering as a university degree major, who shapes this social commitment, and how the social guidance transpires. Foremost, the sociological researcher inquired one thousand one hundred and eighty six first year undergraduate students entering engineering programs at University of Sierra Leone, Fourah Bay College in Freetown during the commencement of the 2022/2023 pedagogical year of course. Subsequently, the sociological researcher dialogued a down-sample of fifty five women and female students. The inquiry social findings specified that women were further probable than men to contemplate pursuing engineering while in secondary school, prior admission into university, or duration in university alternately contemplating it beforehand in their pedagogy. Metropolitan or western urban students were further probable than rural students to contemplate pursuing engineering after secondary school. Besides, metropolitan and western urban students were further probable than rural students to recognize a school mentor (alternately a household associate) as possessing the ultimate guidance on their engineering academic and vocation resolutions. In social dialogues, women and undervalued social minority students gifted instances of prominent folks who associated their competence and zest for mathematics, science, and problem elucidating to engineering, analyzed the merits of being an engineer, and furnished counsel about engineering pedagogical and vocation trajectories. Inspiring previous contemplation of engineering majors, such as during junior secondary school, may permit women and undervalued social minority female students cadence to grasp essential programs and grasp merit of university rudimentary planning. Correspondingly, Sierra Leonean universities can capture in conscious attempts to recognize women and undervalued social minority female students with engineering curiosities and issue social counsel. Comparable attempts should also involve associating them with other women and undervalued social minority students in engineering. Furthermore, Sierra Leonean universities need assist secondary school and university staffs in offering direction that can impact student’s social resolution to proclaim engineering major, that might succor enlist further women and undervalued social minority students into engineering.

Classroom Disruptiveness and Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Disparities in Office Discipline Referrals

ABSTRACT Prior research has shown that Black and Hispanic students are more likely to experience office discipline referrals than White youth, and the magnitude of these inequalities has been found to vary by gender. However, it remains unclear whether racial/ethnic and gender disparities in office referrals might be amplified among students in more disruptive classroom environments. Analyses of data from the 2012–2021 8th/10th grade cohorts of the Monitoring the Future survey (N = 70,442) reveal that, among male youth, Black- and Hispanic-White differences in office referrals are substantially weaker for students who describe their classrooms as more disruptive. In contrast, the heightened risk of an office referral for minority female students relative to White females increases in correspondence with higher levels of classroom disruptiveness.

Improving the Experiences of Sexual and Gender Minority-Identifying Trainees in Gastroenterology and Hepatology

Improving the Experiences of Sexual and Gender Minority-Identifying Trainees in Gastroenterology and Hepatology

Using Hands-on Experiences Including Various Forms of ARTS to Increase Ninth-Grade Female Students’ Interest in STEM

Aim: The research aims to increase interest and a greater awareness of STEM fields among female minority students by providing hands-on STEM-infused workshops incorporating the arts as a central theme.Methodology: The research methodology involved conducting workshops for thirty-seven female students, primarily from low socioeconomic backgrounds, who attended fifteen-hour-long STEM-infused hands-on workshops presented by university professors in the College of Education and the College of Arts and Sciences.Findings: The study’s results revealed that the 15-week STEM workshops positively impacted the female students’ attitudes toward STEM. In addition, the post-survey results showed a significant increase in their interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. The data from the results is a promising finding, as it indicates that targeted interventions can effectively increase STEM interest among young female students from underrepresented backgrounds.Implications/Novel Contribution: The implications of this research are significant as it addresses the underrepresentation of female minority students in STEM. In addition, the project enabled students to participate in STEM education inclusively and innovatively. Our aspiration is that through this initiative, students will be able to contribute to promoting diversity and inclusivity within the STEM fields. In addition, the results of this research may provide insights into practical strategies for increasing diversity and inclusivity in STEM fields.

Female minority students-plight of staying alive in education during an unending pandemic!

Abstract COVID-19 pandemic laid bare deep inequalities and inequities. Disruptions brought to light by the ongoing pandemic are exacerbating risks and vulnerabilities both within education careers and personal lives. Widespread economic, sociological, and psychological damage has challenged female minority students in education more than their male counterparts. We surveyed female minority students as compared to male students at Chicago State University and found mixed ideas and opinions. The concerns on top of the list were fear of contracting COVID-19, existential epiphanies, and poor study conditions. More women, conditioned to design their lives around education are not enrolling for educational opportunities. One reason is that they can’t find childcare; another is they struggle with education/life balance. It's not one cause but the pandemic has made it complex and multi-faceted. For other students, the pandemic offered many new opportunities that were practically never heard off. Some of the most common perks were, i.e., the ability to study remotely from anywhere, cutting out big city commutes, being able to give peak time to family, and greater flexibility in setting daily chores. A common theme for most of the surveyed students was that changes forced by the current pandemic are playing out a new social justice awakening on college campuses especially minority institutions like Chicago State University. Overarching suggestion was that right decisions made today in the context of a pandemic will have long-term consequences for the future of education. Overwhelming minority students proposed a faculty mentor and a peer-mentor to address the academic advising as well as personal guide to facilitate upheavals in pandemic situations.

Participation of Muslim Female Students in Online Education: A Survey

Contemporary India is a primitive, patriarchal society of various feudal tribes. When we refer to caste in Considering the education system to be secular in the sense, when dealing with minority participation, we must bear in mind the debate expressed by Irfan Ahmed that “the characterization of minorities is not just numbers but a comparative and powerless position vis-a-vis the majority community in a given government” . Socio-religious issues dominate the understanding of minority female students and their participation in the education system while the existing considerations are subject to the internal affairs of the state; The current social conditions affected by the pandemic have changed and forced these conditions to be watched out for in order to create a global education system. Using qualitavie and survey research methods. This study aims to take advantage of this global space to investigate the participation status of Muslim female students and to identify areas for improvement.

A Gender Perspective on Language, Ethnicity, and Otherness in the Serbian Higher Education System

ABSTRACT As borders and political systems change, members of some nations become minorities, resulting in multifaceted changes to those communities. This paper draws on Otherness and intersectionality in problematizing the interplay of gender, ethnicity, and language within Serbian academia for ethnic minority female students. I examine the narratives of ethnic-minority Hungarian female students when they explain their experience of Otherness through language in the Serbian higher-education system. Additionally, I examine the narratives of Serb majority-female academics, when they narrate about their experience with the minority students who struggle with Serbian language skills. I highlight how language becomes an element of Otherness for the ethnic minority female students, and how it has a different effect in the social sciences and humanities (SSH) compared with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The paper raises important issues relating to research into gender and ethnic spaces of higher education systems in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).

Interactions Between Race/Ethnicity and Gender on Physical Activity Among US High School Students: Youth Risk Behavior Survey 2011–2017

Background/purposeMost adolescents do not meet the recommended amount of physical activity. Female, Black, and Hispanic students have significantly less physical activity than White male students. Physical activity of Asian or Multiple Race students have not been reported. The purpose of this research is to estimate differences in physical activity by race/ethnicity and gender among US high school students to examine whether Black Hispanic, Asian and multiple race female students and 11th grade and 12th grade female students have significantly lower physical activity levels. Design/methodsThis study is a secondary analysis of cross-sectional data from the high school Youth Risk Behavior Survey, a biennial, nationally representative survey of US high school students. Four waves of data were pooled from 2011 to 2017 YRBS (N = 59,397). Dependent variables were the number of active days per week a student was physically active, and whether the student was physically active for zero, 5 or more, or 7 days per week. Data were analyzed using R software. ResultsAsian students and students in grade 12 had the fewest number of physically active days per week. Female students were less physically active than male students. Significant negative interactions were measured in female gender by race/ethnicity (Black or Hispanic) and female gender by grade levels for the number of physically active days per week and for zero physically active days per week. The gender disparity in physical activity was significantly more pronounced among Black and Hispanic students. The reduction in physical activity by grade level was also significantly greater among female students. DiscussionEfforts to increase physical activity are especially needed among Asian, Black, and Hispanic, and upper-grade female students. Practical implicationsFurther research is needed to identify explanations and solutions for the significantly lower physical activity among Asians, female minority students, and students in upper grades.

Women in Aviation: A Phenomenological Study Exploring the Needs and Wants Necessary for Graduation

Despite the increased awareness of gender and race equality movements, today's population of minority women in aviation is still underrepresented. This research focused on underrepresented minority women who want to pursue a career in the aviation field and what factors affect their level of success in a specialized aviation higher education institution. There is not enough data and research surrounding the topic of minority women in aviation and their paths to success in these institutions. This qualitative research aimed to bridge the existing gap in the literature related to minority women in aviation and their needs and wants to complete a four-year degree. The research objective was to raise awareness for equality of race and gender in aviation higher education institutions and explore the needs and wants that could lead to academic success for minority women. The qualitative research design brought in six students who identify as a minority woman defined by conditions set upon by the researchers, and they were asked a list of questions in a semi-structured interview format. The qualitative data collected from in-depth interviews helped identify significant aspects and patterns that minority women in aviation recognize as needs and wants that could lead to academic success. Open communication, friendship and community, and positive faculty support were identified as the perceived needs and wants of minority female students in aviation. These findings can be used to better serve underrepresented students in an aviation specialized higher education institution. In conclusion, the findings can be used to bring awareness on an issue that is not widely studied or discussed in educational aviation institutions.

Substance abuse and HIV/STD prevention at a Hispanic-serving institution in South Texas: A study of racial/ethnic and gender heterogeneity and intersectionality

The purpose of this study is to examine racial/ethnic and gender variations and intersectionality in the knowledge, attitudes, intentions, and behaviors pertaining to substance abuse (SA) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/sexually transmitted disease (STD) prevention among racial/ethnic minority college students (ages 18–24) in South Texas. A total of 535 minority students completed a baseline survey between 2014 and 2016 (N = 535). Results revealed statistically significant (ranging from p < .05 to p < .001) racial/ethnic and gender variations in SA and HIV/STD prevention-related knowledge, attitudes, intentions, and behaviors. However, the significant interaction effects (i.e., intersectionality) were observed only for two of the nine composite variables. That is, although male minority students exhibited lower levels of awareness of sexual risks and safe sex negotiation skills than female minority students, Hispanic male students appeared to fare better in both awareness of sexual risks (p < .01) and safe sex negotiation skills (p < .05) compared to students of other racial/ethnic origin. Implications for prevention and intervention work involving minority college students are discussed.

Integrating Nursing Education in Students’ Extracurricular Activities: Students’ Motivations and Benefits

Introduction: Schools of higher education can implement practices that promote educationally purposeful extracurricular activities within the context of their campus communities. Community service learning (CSL) activities have traditionally been used in nursing programs as graded course activities, usually in community health nursing courses. Student organizations can be instrumental in providing extracurricular ungraded opportunities for students to do CSL. This paper describes the conduct of an extracurricular CSL activity through a student organization which integrated nursing education competencies. Moreover, it determines the motivations and perceived benefits of extracurricular CSL participation among undergraduate nursing students at a minority-focused event. Materials and Methods: The International Nursing Students Association (INSA) organized a health screening targeted towards minority populations at the 2017 Asian Festival. Students were provided with orientation and practice to conduct the screening. They were also given a chance to experience the many activities of the festival. Following the screening, the student volunteers (N=12) were surveyed to identify motivators for CSL participation; completed a survey for health screening skills and transcultural competencies before and after the event; and wrote a 6-word reflection. Quantitative data were statistically analyzed; qualitative data were analyzed for emerging themes. Results: The predominantly female minority students (83%) joined the CSL activity for personal improvement (50%), commitment to the community (33%), and professional improvement (16%). They had significant (p&lt;0.05) improvement in clinical skills and transcultural competencies. Reflection themes were congruent with the development of clinical skills, contribution to community health promotion, and cultural appreciation. Conclusions: This extracurricular CSL activity improved nursing skills, transcultural competencies, community health promotion, and cultural appreciation. Knowledge of motivators can develop strategies to enhance student participation. Extracurricular CSL activities could be an avenue to integrate nursing education into real-world experiences, providing care for diverse populations.

Community college minority female administrators as mentors of minority female students

PurposeMinority female students are increasingly faced with issues such as financial instability, work-family imbalance, and few growth opportunities in their careers. Within the context of community colleges, the presence of minority female administrators may serve as a venue for the empowerment and attainment of academic and professional goals for minority female students through administrators’ mentoring practices. The purpose of this paper is to explore the lived experience of community college minority female administrators in their role as informal mentors to community college minority female students.Design/methodology/approachThe author used a qualitative phenomenological approach to explore community college minority female administrators’ experiences as mentors of female minority students. Mullen’s (2009) alternative mentoring model guided the study as well as a feminist lens. The purposive sample included six minority female administrators from two Florida community colleges, with individual interviews based on 18 open-ended questions. Data were analyzed with Atlas.ti™ qualitative software.FindingsThe findings uncovered four common themes and seven subthemes regarding the experience of informal mentoring as a minority female administrator: facilitating empowerment with two subthemes – modeling and coaching; administrator-student relationship with three subthemes – encouragement, life experiences, and past mentors; personal growth; and formalized mentoring with two subthemes – create a support system and access to information.Research limitations/implicationsIn any study, phenomenological or otherwise, the researcher’s biases may cloud the data analysis process, and the researcher may code the data incorrectly or leave out crucial information during the transcription of the interview. It was essential for the author to understand the concept of epochè to bracket the author’s own experiences as a minority female (Bloomberg and Volpe, 2012). The purposeful sample was small and only focused on one region in the US, and the study’s findings may not be transferable to other contexts.Originality/valueMinority female administrators’ experiences mentoring minority female students have not been comprehensively explored in the scholarly realm; hence, their mentoring journey is unknown. The study sought to shatter that silence and create a dialogue that will hopefully continue in the field of mentoring.

Harassment and Mental Distress Among Adolescent Female Students by Sexual Identity and BMI or Perceived Weight Status.

Sexual minority girls (lesbian/bisexual) and girls with overweight/obesity experience high rates of discrimination and mental distress. This study explored whether BMI or perceived weight status might compound sexual minority girls' risk for harassment and mental distress. Data on female students from the national 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (n = 7,006) were analyzed. Logistic regression was used to examine differences in bullying, harassment, and mental distress across sexual identity/BMI groups: heterosexual/normal-weight, heterosexual/overweight, sexual minority/normal-weight, and sexual minority/overweight. Procedures were repeated with four analogous groups created from sexual identity and perceived weight. Across sexual identity/BMI groups, being overweight increased heterosexual females' odds of being bullied or experiencing suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Regardless of weight status, sexual minority females had greater odds for each outcome than heterosexual females. Sexual minority females who perceived themselves as overweight had greater odds of suicidality than all other sexual minority/perceived weight groups. Double jeopardy may exist for sexual minority female students who perceive themselves as overweight. Professional development with school staff on how to create a positive climate for sexual minorities and those with overweight/obesity and addressing positive identity and body image within school-based suicide prevention efforts may be important to the well-being of adolescent girls.

Turning in or tuning out? Listening to silences in education for critical political consciousness

What happens when a team of university education researchers initiates a social justice learning project in a local high school, and – despite the overall project’s considerable successes in cultivating students’ critical political ‘voice’ – is confounded by the periodic, apparent ‘silences’ of some of its young female students? Drawing on eight years of fieldwork in a groundbreaking high school social justice education classroom, this article examines the presumptions inherent in certain forms of social justice pedagogy, and the ways in which ensuing classroom disjunctures may, in fact, lead to deeper insights about education for youth critical social consciousness. The article focuses on two, interrelated issues: the unsettling and sometimes confounding ‘silences’ of female students and the correlation between such silences and social justice educators’ attenuated ability to recognize and support the myriad ways in which minority female students may encounter, negotiate, and articulate their own particular forms of Freirian conscientización.

Capitalizing on mobile technology to support healthy eating in ethnic minority college students

ABSTRACTObjective: To evaluate the capacity of a mobile technology–based intervention to support healthy eating among ethnic minority female students. Participants: Forty-three African American and Hispanic female students participated in a 3-week intervention between January and May 2013. Methods: Participants photographed their meals using their smart phone camera and received motivational text messages 3 times a day. At baseline, postintervention, and 10 weeks after the intervention, participants reported on fruit, vegetable, and sugar-sweetened beverage consumption. Participants were also weighed at baseline. Results: Among participants with body mass index (BMI) ≥25, fruit and vegetable consumption increased with time (p < .01). Among participants with BMI <21, consumption of fruit decreased (p < .05), whereas the consumption of vegetables remained stable. No effects were found for sugar-sweetened beverage consumption. Conclusion: Mobile technology–based interventions could facilitate healthy eating among female ethnic minority college students, particularly those with higher BMI.

School Violence and Bullying Among Sexual Minority High School Students, 2009–2011

PurposeSchool-based victimization has short- and long-term implications for the health and academic lives of sexual minority students. This analysis assessed the prevalence and relative risk of school violence and bullying among sexual minority and heterosexual high school students. MethodsYouth Risk Behavior Survey data from 10 states and 10 large urban school districts that assessed sexual identity and had weighted data in the 2009 and/or 2011 cycle were combined to create two large population-based data sets, one containing state data and one containing district data. Prevalence of physical fighting, being threatened or injured with a weapon, weapon carrying, and being bullied on school property and not going to school because of safety concerns was calculated. Associations between these behaviors and sexual identity were identified. ResultsIn the state data, sexual minority male students were at greater risk for being threatened or injured with a weapon, not going to school because of safety concerns and being bullied than heterosexual male students. Sexual minority female students were at greater risk than heterosexual female students for all five behaviors. In the district data, with one exception, sexual minority male and female students were at greater risk for all five behaviors than heterosexual students. ConclusionsSexual minority students still routinely experience more school victimization than their heterosexual counterparts. The implementation of comprehensive, evidence-based programs and policies has the ability to reduce school violence and bullying, especially among sexual minority students.

Hidden Currents in the STEM Pipeline: Insights From the Dyschronous Life Episodes of a Minority Female STEM Teacher

In this article, I use the idea of dyschrony to describe the multiple disjunctures experienced in a Hispanic woman's life as she struggled to gain full membership in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) community. Despite having earned a doctoral degree in chemistry and a teaching position in a STEM school, she was cognizant of how gender and race had marginalized her and her minority female students, making them feel like border members of the STEM community. She had formed a solidarity group within the STEM school. As I apply the construct of dyschrony to analyze the in-depth interviews with the teacher, I illuminate tensions in the STEM pipeline and suggest that one should be critical about the promise of social mobility. The forming of solidarity groups may contribute to positive experiences of minority girls in STEM schools. Dyschrony may be used as a helpful analytic construct to unpack the forces contributing to minority women's struggles in STEM fields and understand why they might leave.

Linguistic Minority Students in Higher Education: Using, Resisting, and Negotiating Multiple Labels

Linguistic minority students have been both under-researched and underserved in the context of research on minority students’ access to and retention in higher education. The labels ascribed to them have typically failed to capture the complexity of their identities. Additionally, much of the literature in higher education on minority students’ access and retention has focused on structural barriers rather than on how students negotiate these barriers. By bringing linguistic minority students into the forefront of this conversation, we show how four linguistic minority female students draw on their community cultural wealth and different forms of capital (Yosso, 2005) to access and navigate college while experiencing differing advantages and disadvantages based on institutional labeling. By employing critical race theory and its conceptualization of capital, we illustrate how students use, resist, and negotiate labels in attempts to access resources and services at a four-year institution. We conclude by calling for more research on this population as well as additive university practices and policies that reflect the richness of linguistic minority student identities.

The Path through Math: Course Sequences and Academic Performance at the Intersection of Race‐Ethnicity and Gender

Using new national data from Adolescent Health and Academic Achievement (AHAA), this article examines high school math patterns for students of different race-ethnicity and gender. Compared with white males, African American and Latino males receive lower returns from taking Algebra I during their freshman year, reaching lower levels of the math course sequence when they begin in the same position. This pattern is not explained by academic performance, and, furthermore, African American males receive less benefit from high math grades. Lower returns are not observed for minority female students, suggesting that more attention to racial-ethnic inequality in math among male students is needed.

Racism in Peer-Group Interactions: South Asian Students' Experiences in Canadian Academe

For this qualitative inquiry, 40 South Asian students in a predominantly White Canadian university participated in interviews to investigate how racism is prevalent among peers in the university environment. Differential treatment is evident in the everyday interactions between minority and mainstream students, negatively affecting the overall academic performance of minority students. Interviewed male and female minority students were undergraduates and graduates across disciplines, between 18-24 years of age. Recommendations include more visibility of minority students and cross-cultural activities to challenge the persistence of racism in the university setting.