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MCCURDY DISSERTATION FINAL.pdf (964.45 KB)

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Discrimination as a Barrier to Diversity: Sexism and Microaggressions against African American Women in Computer Science and Engineering

McCurdy, Eric R.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron158696994423105

Abstract Details

2020, Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, Counseling Psychology.
Significant effort has been dedicated to increasing the representation of women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. While women's representation in many of these fields has grown, women remain under-represented in Engineering and Computing Science. Much of the available research on this topic has been dedicated to getting more women into the STEM "pipeline," and has focused on STEM disciplines as homogenous. The research that has focused on women who are already in the field is primarily qualitative and has been conducted from a qualitative perspective. Further, this research has not had an exclusive, quantitative focus on women of color, or any one racial/ethnic group of women. The current study was undertaken in order to address this gap, to better understand the experiences of African American women in the fields of computing science and engineering, to replicate available data in a quantitative manner, and to examine this problem from a counseling psychology perspective. A sample of 197 African American women working in computing science or engineering completed several self-report measures examining their experiences of sexism and racial microaggressions, as well as their career self-efficacy, career outcome expectations, and symptoms of stress. Data were analyzed from a Critical Race Quantitative Intersectionality perspective, with multiple regression analyses and conditional processes analyses being conducted to examine the relationships between these constructs. Supporting the predicted hypothesis, the interaction of sexist and racially microaggressive experiences (examined via a moderation analysis) significantly predicted a percentage of the variance in career self-efficacy and career outcome expectations above and beyond either experience on its own. The interaction of sexist and racially microaggressive experiences, when moderated by sexist experiences in a vocational setting (examined using a moderated moderation analysis), likewise predicted a percentage of the variance in symptoms of stress above and beyond other components of that analysis. The results of this investigation provide evidence that the sexist and racially microaggressive experiences faced by African American women in computing science and engineering can impact these women's career self-efficacy and career outcome expectations. The results of this investigation also highlight the need for further research on the discrimination faced by women who hold other racial and ethnic identities and who work in computing science and engineering.
Ronald Levant, Ed. D. (Advisor)
Ingrid Weigold, Ph. D. (Committee Co-Chair)
Harvey Sterns, Ph. D. (Committee Member)
Mary Triece, Ph. D. (Committee Member)
Philathia Bolton, Ph. D. (Committee Member)
187 p.
Counseling Psychology
sexism; microaggressions; intersectionality; women; African American; STEM; vocational behavior

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • McCurdy, E. R. (2020). Discrimination as a Barrier to Diversity: Sexism and Microaggressions against African American Women in Computer Science and Engineering [Doctoral dissertation, University of Akron]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron158696994423105

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • McCurdy, Eric. Discrimination as a Barrier to Diversity: Sexism and Microaggressions against African American Women in Computer Science and Engineering. 2020. University of Akron, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron158696994423105.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • McCurdy, Eric. "Discrimination as a Barrier to Diversity: Sexism and Microaggressions against African American Women in Computer Science and Engineering." Doctoral dissertation, University of Akron, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron158696994423105

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

akron158696994423105
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This open access ETD is published by University of Akron and OhioLINK.