SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS EDUCATION CENTRE HEARING THEIR VOICES: BUILDING A CAREER DEVELOPMENT MODEL FOR WOMEN IN ENGINEERING LESLEY PATRICIA NEWHOUSE-MAIDEN This thesis is presented as part of the requirements for the award of Degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the Curtin University of Technology JUNE 2002 ABSTRACT This study is an interpretive investigation of the life-career histories of 53 women in engineering; and a case study of one woman's account of present-lived career and her quest for identity in engineering over an eight year period (1992-1999). This study had two broad aims. First, it aimed to give voice to women's stories derived from their own reflective accounts, and to compare and contrast their perspectives with feminist writers' reviews of non-traditional girls' and women's career experiences, and with the organisational career story of itself. Second, it aimed to evaluate the adequacy of my convergence of a socialist feminist "unified systems" theory of social relations (Jaggar, 1983, 1989; Jaggar & Rothenberg, 1984, 1993) with Super's segmental life-span, life- space theory (Super, 1980, 1990, 1994) to explain women's career and personality development. Further to this theoretical convergence, I elaborated on Super's original models and evaluated their usefulness for my gender analysis of career from four perspectives. I conceptualised "career" as both "subjective" and "organisational" (Dale, 1972; Hughes, 1937) and, using Benhabib's (1986b) terminology, created four perspectives by further differentiating career into either "generalised other" or "concrete other" (see Figure 1.1). Drawing on the findings of my exploration of the women's careers, I extended the range of Jaggar's/Super's explanatory theories of career and personality development (Figure 2. 2) in an elaboration of Super's archway model (Figure 8.1). I found that my combined Jaggar/Super career archway and spider web model (Figure 2. 3) represented the life- space tensions in each individual woman's career decision-making in engineering. The life-career rainbow was a valuable subsidiary model (Figure 2. 4) in highlighting the complexities of gender as an overarching socio-cultural factor for theoretical and conceptual analyses of career and its effect on salient role relationships and personality development at each life-stage. My convergence career ladder represented the organisational career statuses and the successive development of the subjective career and identity through the completion of developmental tasks (Figure 2. 6). My case study Cecilia, in common with other participants, I found to be an accomplished "feminine ambivalent" (Douvan & Adelson, 1966) and "paver of the way" (Josselson, 1987), yet she (like several others) floundered in the milieux of engineering. Her story indicates the continued need for engineering educators: to acknowledge the significance of women's subjective constructs of career to effect transformative change by promoting equity and excellence; to recognise ways in which the subjective and the organisational constructs of career can complement one another; and to implement changes which facilitate such complementarity. This study fills a space in the research literature on non-traditional girls' and women's career development. It also has potential to assist those who wish to gain a better understanding of the career pathways of women in engineering. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Special thanks to Professor Lesley Parker, my supervisor who extended me beyond what I thought I was capable of, and therefore helped me to increase my knowledge and understanding of feminist methodology and the study of women's life-careers in engineering. My thanks to the women participants, especially Cecilia, who were so open about their lives, past and present and their hopes and dreams for the future. It was a joy to touch- base with them over the years, as "pavers of the way" in engineering for the 21st century. I wish to thank family, friends and colleagues, who cajoled, enthused, prayed for me, and motivated me to persevere. I especially wish to thank Peter, my husband for his loving patience, understanding and active encouragement throughout this research endeavour. My friend Janina too was selfless in placing anything to do with engineering on my desk, reading my thesis, and helping to maintain my sense of humour and well-being. Thanks to my son Tim for his assistance with computer modelling. My thanks to the Deans for their generosity in providing the contexts for this study, to the WISE co-ordinators who initiated introductions to the women participants and provided support, and to the heads of department who lent their voices to the construction of the organisational career. My appreciation of the late Donald Super, educator and counsellor, whose theory and models of career I used as a springboard to build a more gender inclusive theory of career and personality development. Finally my admiration of Alison Jaggar's ability to synthesise feminist perspectives and her unified systems approach to changing conditions for women worldwide. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii LIST OF FIGURES vii LIST OF TABLES viii GLOSSARY OF TERMS ix CHAPTER ONE 1 INTRODUCTION 1 OUTLINE OF THIS CHAPTER 3 MY ADOPTION OF JAGGAR'S PERSPECTIVE ON WOMEN'S CAREERS 8 MY PERSPECTIVE IN RESEARCHING WOMEN IN ENGINEERING 13 THE PARTICIPANTS' CONSTRUCTION OF CONTEXTUALISED CAREERS 17 SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS STUDY 25 LIMITATIONS 27 SUMMARY STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS 28 CHAPTER TWO 30 JAGGAR/SUPER "UNIFIED SYSTEMS" APPROACH - A SOCIALIST FEMINIST CRITIQUE OF WOMEN IN ENGINEERING 30 PURPOSE AND OUTLINE OF THIS CHAPTER 30 JAGGAR'S AND SUPER'S THEORIES OF CAREER AND IDENTITY 31 SUPER'S SEGMENTAL THEORY OF CAREER DEVELOPMENT 40 CONVERGING JAGGAR'S FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE 55 WITH SUPER'S THEORY OF CAREER 55 ADDITIONAL SUBSIDIARY MODELS WITH EXPLANATORY VALUE 67 iii CONCLUSION 75 CHAPTER THREE 76 REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ON WOMEN AND NON-TRADITIONAL CAREERS 76 THE PURPOSE OF THIS CHAPTER 76 OUTLINE OF THIS CHAPTER 77 GENDER ORDER AND REGIMES (LATE 1960'S-1990'S) 78 WOMEN'S PRESENT CAREER IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION: 93 GENDER ORDER AND REGIMES IN THE 1990’S 93 WOMEN’S FUTURE CAREER IN ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE: 107 GENDER ORDER AND REGIMES (LATE 1960'S-1990'S) 107 CONCLUSIONS 115 CHAPTER FOUR 119 A SOCIALIST FEMINIST METHODOLOGY AND ANALYSIS OF THE LIFE- CAREERS OF WOMEN IN ENGINEERING 119 PREFACE 119 DETAIL OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS 119 PURPOSE AND OUTLINE OF THIS CHAPTER 120 NARRATIVE AS A PARADIGM FOR FEMINIST CAREER RESEARCH 123 PROCEDURE - CONSTRUCTING WOMEN'S LIFE-HISTORIES 128 METHODS, INSTRUMENTS AND SUPER'S HEURISTIC DEVICES 137 (A) THE WOMEN AND THE CONCRETE OTHER SUBJECTIVE CAREER PERSPECTIVE 137 (B) THE PROFESSORS AND THE CONCRETE OTHER ORGANISATIONAL CAREER PERSPECTIVE 147 NARRATIVE CRITICISM AND COMPARISON 151 CONCLUSION 155 iv CHAPTER FIVE 157 THE ORGANISATIONAL PRESENT CAREER OF ENGINEERING: THE GENERALISED OTHER AND CONCRETE OTHER PERSPECTIVES 157 THE PURPOSE AND OUTLINE OF THIS CHAPTER 157 ORGANISATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON WOMEN'S PAST CAREER 160 ORGANISATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON WOMEN'S PRESENT CAREER 165 ORGANISATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON WOMEN'S FUTURE CAREER 195 CHAPTER SIX 203 WOMEN "EXPLORING" ENGINEERING - THE CONCRETE OTHER SUBJECTIVE COLLECTIVE CAREER 203 PURPOSE OF THIS CHAPTER 203 OUTLINE OF THIS CHAPTER 204 PARTICIPANTS' "CONCRETE OTHER" PAST CAREER (1967-1992) 205 CONCRETE OTHER" PRESENT/FUTURE CAREER PERSPECTIVE OF RECENT GRADUATES (1992-1996) 248 CHAPTER SEVEN 259 CECILIA'S QUEST FOR IDENTITY: WOMAN IN ENGINEERING IN POST- MODERN AUSTRALIA, USING JAGGAR/SUPER MODELS OF CAREER 259 PURPOSE AND OUTLINE OF THIS CHAPTER 259 CECILIA'S STORY 262 CECILIA'S EXPLORATION IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION 271 FEBRUARY 1992-DECEMBER 1997 271 THE ESTABLISHMENT STAGE OF CECILIA'S LIFE-CAREER 296 JANUARY 1997-NOVEMBER, 1998 296 SUBSTANTIVE AND METHODOLOGICAL CONCLUSIONS 304 v CHAPTER EIGHT 313 COMPLEMENTARITY OF PERSPECTIVES ON WOMEN IN ENGINEERING: BUILDING A CONVERGENCE MODEL OF CAREER AND DISMANTLING THE DIVIDE 313 PURPOSE AND OUTLINE OF THIS CHAPTER 313 SYNTHESIS OF CAREER PERSPECTIVES AND DISTILLATION OF ISSUES 314 JAGGAR/SUPER CONVERGENCE THEORY OF CAREER DEVELOPMENT 328 JAGGAR/SUPER CAREER MODELS AS GRAPHIC HEURISTIC DEVICES 341 CONCLUSION 359 EPILOGUE 361 REFERENCES 364 APPENDICES 415 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1: Framework of Career Perspectives 5 Figure 2.1: Super's (1990) Archway of Career Determinants 44 Figure 2.2 A Segmental Archway Model of Women's Career Development 57 Figure 2.3: Woman in Engineering 59 Figure 2.4: The Life Career Rainbow: Six Life Roles in Schematic Life Space 68 Figure 2.5: Super's (1990) Ladder Model of Life-Career Stages, Developmental Tasks and Behaviours 72 Figure 2.6: Convergence Ladder Model of Life-Career Stages, Developmental Tasks and Behaviours (Rungs of Organisational Status) 74 Figure 8.1: A Super/Jaggar Convergence Archway Model of Women's Career Development 350 vii LIST OF TABLES Table A: Collective Subjective Past Life-Career Rainbow – Institution A 456 Table B: Collective Subjective Past Life-Career Rainbow – Institution B 457 Table C: Collective Subjective Present Life-Career Rainbow – Institution A 458 Table D: Collective Subjective Present Life-Career Rainbow – Institution B 459 Table E: Personal Determinants of Present Life-Career – Institution A 460 Table F: Personal Determinants of Present Life-Career - Institution B 461 Table G: Cecilia – Key Events in Growth and Exploration Stages of Life-Career