Career development of women engineers: The role of self-efficacy and supports -barriers

The purpose of this study was to explore factors influencing the career development of a culturally diverse group of women engineers. Specific issues addressed included: the role of self-efficacy and supports and barriers; how engineering self-efficacy is defined; the strategies that were used to negotiate race and gender within a male-dominated profession; and recommendations of ways to improve the engineering profession in order to increase women's career satisfaction and success. Participants were 26 women engineers, ranging in age from 25 to 48, including: 11 European Americans, 8 Native Americans, 5 Hispanics, and 2 African Americans.;Data were collected in two stages. Initially, participants completed a written questionnaire. Individual interviews were conducted several weeks later. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using a modified version of the Consensual Qualitative Research model (Hill, Thompson, & Williams, 1997). Twenty-four participants reviewed and verified their analyzed transcripts. Additional validation of results was provided by triangulation of the qualitative and quantitative data.;Results revealed a complex reciprocal interaction between women engineers' self-efficacy and the supports and barriers they encountered during their career development. Personal, educational, and professional supports, particularly in the form of opportunities to gain direct career-related experience, led to increased self-efficacy, persistence, achievement, and higher level aspirations within engineering. Participants encountered multiple external barriers in the form of isolation, pressure to prove themselves and to fit into the male-dominated culture of engineering, and sexual or racial harassment and discrimination. Many participants perceived these barriers as challenges and gained increased self-efficacy as a result of overcoming them, particularly if they also received environmental supports. However, limited organizational supports and lack of career opportunities led to decreased self-efficacy among some participants. As a result they either adjusted their career aspirations downward or considered leaving the engineering profession.;Results of this study suggest the need for counseling, educational, and organizational interventions to address both individual and systemic barriers to women engineers' career satisfaction and success. Further research is needed concerning issues of diversity, supports and barriers, engineering self-efficacy, and cultural constructions of gender and power as they impact women's career development.