Returning to STEM: gendered factors affecting employability for mature women students

Clem Herman
2014 Journal of Education and Work  
This paper adds to current discourses around employability by arguing for an explicit recognition of gender, in particular in relation to women's employment in male dominated sectors such as science, engineering and technology (SET). This is not limited to young first time graduates but continues and evolves throughout the lifecourse. Mature women students, who are returning after career breaks, face a number of barriers in re-entering such employment sectors. Drawing on data from a
more » ... study of women graduates in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM), who participated in a UK government funded online programme aimed at supporting them to return to work, the paper examines three gendered factors identified as being of particular influence on outcomes -gender role normativity, locality and mobility and structural and institutional barriers. The paper concludes by identifying strategies deployed by those that successfully returned to employment, including re-training, networking and doing unpaid or low paid work.
doi:10.1080/13639080.2014.887198 fatcat:vdzus3hn5bfytfhje6kexf5mwa