For my research paper I plan to research college major choices. Specifically I would like to research the difference in major choices of men and women (and if it connects with gender separation in the workplace). I am also interested in researching women and STEM majors.
I have had a lot of students write about college major choice, and several ended up writing about women or minorities in STEM, even when that was not their initial interest, because it is such a pressing social issue and such a straightforward topic. Some useful links:
ReplyDeletehttp://cortescollege201.blogspot.com/
http://maryalicehauer.blogspot.com/
http://erinelizabethlynch.blogspot.com/
http://davidsdiscussionforrum.blogspot.com/
http://youandyourmajor.blogspot.com/
A classic work on gender in college, including choice of major, is Educated in Romance. It is an ethnographic study of women at college and very likely was an influence on Armstrong and Hamilton's approach. One of the chapters is titled "Pathways to Marginal Careers" and discusses the ways that the undergraduate women they interviewed (in the 80s I think) were already making choices of major and career that would allow for having a family. So, for instance, young women might decide on nursing rather than medical school because that might allow more time for having kids. Or they might choose being a K-12 teacher rather than pursuing a PhD and being a professor or scientist. I'd be curious to know if that sort of thinking still influences women's major choices.
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ReplyDeleteI think this will be helpful for you, it has some interesting information about women in the computer science field.