Media Images Of Women Engineers And Scientists And Adolescent Girls’ Concep...


Panel/Workshop:	Concurrent Session
Paper Title:	Media Images Of Women Engineers And Scientists And Adolescent Girls’ Conceptions Of Future Roles
Date & Time:	06/09/03 09:45
Abstract:	Media images of engineers and scientists reinforce cultural stereotypes about the role of women in American society and in the engineering, scientific, and technical professions. These images can have a negative impact on adolescent girls who are making career plans at a time marked by waning self-confidence and a heightened awareness of cultural norms of femininity. An analysis of images of women engineers and scientists in popular films shows how these images reinforce cultural representations of gender and science and explores the potential impact on adolescent girls’ conceptions of gender roles and their occupational aspirations. This paper makes recommendations on how intervention programs can be enhanced through a greater understanding of the cultural representations of gender in the everyday lives of adolescent girls. Index Terms – Adolescent girls, cultural representations, gender and science, images of women engineers and scientists.
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