When Shared Suffering Binds But Also Blinds: Women’s Conditional Belonging and Gender Exclusionary Cultures In Male-Dominated Professions

Authors:

Abstract: Although women’s numerical representation in STEM fields (e.g., engineering) is at an all-time high, this increased gender diversity has not been accompanied by similar increases in gender inclusion and belonging. In this paper, we investigate male and female engineering students’ experiences of belonging during the formative pre-career university years as they negotiate what it means to be an engineer. Through a qualitative investigation of engineering students at a North American university, we identify a novel route to occupational belonging via participation in a “culture of suffering” through which students bond over their difficult and intense working conditions. Both men and women participate in this culture, fostering a strong sense of community and narratives of camaraderie and inclusion. However, we uncover that belonging in this community is uniquely precarious for women, for whom belonging is conditional on their denial and downplaying of sexism within the community. Compounded further by men’s defense of community narratives of inclusion, this perpetuates a gender-exclusionary culture under the guise of a highly supportive and inclusive community. We advance theory by uncovering the precarity of women’s seemingly-improved belonging in male-dominated professions, which has pernicious implications for the perpetuation of gender exclusionary cultures in male-dominated professional communities.

Track: DEI

Keywords: Gender inequality, belonging, professional culture, professions, community