Gender Bias in Engineering: Does More Contact with Female Engineers Reduce Bias?

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dc.contributor.authorHoeffel, Elizabeth Marieen
dc.contributor.committeechairYuan, Anastasia Sue Vogten
dc.contributor.committeememberHughes, Michael D.en
dc.contributor.committeememberFuller, Theodore D.en
dc.contributor.committeememberBorrego, Maura Jenkinsen
dc.contributor.departmentSociologyen
dc.date.accessioned2014-03-14T20:34:05Zen
dc.date.adate2007-04-27en
dc.date.available2014-03-14T20:34:05Zen
dc.date.issued2007-04-06en
dc.date.rdate2007-04-27en
dc.date.sdate2007-04-23en
dc.description.abstractStatus Characteristics Theory and Contact Theory are tested to measure gender bias in engineering students, and to determine if contact with female engineers helps reduce gender bias. To assess this, two versions of a resume, one with a female's name and one with a male's name, were given to senior mechanical engineering students (n=225) to establish if they would rate the male applicant better than the female applicant. Respondents were asked how qualified they thought the respondent was, how much they would want the respondent on their team, and whether or not they would hire the applicant. Respondents were also questioned about contact with female engineering faculty, having female engineers in the family, and having female engineering co-workers. Results showed that all of the effects that were expected to occur were not significant, except one. The interaction between having a female engineer in the family and the applicant sex of the resume significantly impacted males' desire to have the applicant on their senior design team. Therefore, overall there is very little support for Status Characteristics Theory and Contact Theory. Only one result supports both Status Characteristics Theory and Contact Theory — having a female engineer in the family seems to reduce gender bias toward team members among males.en
dc.description.degreeMaster of Scienceen
dc.identifier.otheretd-04232007-132353en
dc.identifier.sourceurlhttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-04232007-132353/en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/31846en
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.relation.haspartFinal_Thesis.pdfen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectgender biasen
dc.subjectwomen in engineeringen
dc.titleGender Bias in Engineering: Does More Contact with Female Engineers Reduce Bias?en
dc.typeThesisen
thesis.degree.disciplineSociologyen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.levelmastersen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Scienceen

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