Literature Review: Overview
This document is designed to chronicle and highlight some of the prevailing research in the area of Women in Science and Engineering (S&E).
The primary focus of the document is on research articles published in peer-reviewed journals, books, or presented at nationally recognized conferences. It is also the intent to review materials published in the last 10 years. This is done to prevent any cohort effects that may give the reader an inaccurate picture of the current state of the academic literature pertaining to women in S&E.
The review is designed in such a way so that individuals can select portions to read that are of interest to them without needing to read proceeding or following sections. Because of this there is a great deal of redundancy built into the document. This is intentional. Several links have been included in the document in an effort to direct the reader to more detailed information on topics. This document is viewed as an ongoing review of the literature pertaining to women, and will be updated throughout the project.
Although the document is divided into segments for ease of reading, as is often the case with any complicated subject matter, most of the topics overlap. For example, although mentoring is treated as a distinct topic area, in reality it affects many of the other areas, including retention, recruitment, and life/work issues to name a few.
Several topics that reoccur in the literature are highlighted and explored from several perspectives:
- Current state of Women in Science and Engineering
- Empowering Women as Leaders and Scholars
- Increasing the Representation of Women
- Advancing Women into Faculty Careers
- Finally, each topic is explored through interventions utilized in academia and industry. Possible solutions and pitfalls, as presented in the literature, are detailed as part of the interventions section.