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Gender Harassment at Work and In School: Seeing It; Solving It (Panel Discussion)

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Conference

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Baltimore , Maryland

Publication Date

June 25, 2023

Start Date

June 25, 2023

End Date

June 28, 2023

Conference Session

Sex, Gender, and Engineering: Responding to Harassment at Work and in School

Tagged Division

Women in Engineering Division (WIED)

Tagged Topic

Diversity

Page Count

9

DOI

10.18260/1-2--43777

Permanent URL

https://sftp.asee.org/43777

Download Count

144

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Paper Authors

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Tamara Floyd Smith West Virginia University Institute of Technology

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Jennifer J VanAntwerp Calvin University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0003-1066-9202

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Jennifer VanAntwerp, Ph.D., is Professor of Chemical Engineering at Calvin University. Her research focuses on gender in engineering, both among students and professionals. Dr. VanAntwerp is the recipient of the 2015 Denice D. Denton Best Paper Award from the ASEE Women in Engineering Division. She is co-author of the recent book Sex, Gender, and Engineering: Harassment at Work and In School (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2022).

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Shruti Misra University of Washington

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I am a graduate student in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Washington, Seattle. My research interest is broadly focused on studying innovation in university-industry partnerships. I am interesting in various ways that universities

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Alicia Mullen

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Eve A. Riskin P.E. University of Washington Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-8813-6521

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Eve Riskin received her BS degree in Electrical Engineering from
M.I.T. and her graduate degrees in EE from Stanford. She was a professor in the ECE Department at the University of Washington for 32 years and is now Dean of Undergraduate Education at Stevens Institute of Technology.

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Denise Wilson University of Washington

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Denise Wilson is a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Washington, Seattle. Her research interests in engineering education focus on the role of self-efficacy, belonging, and other non-cognitive aspects of the student experience on e

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Abstract

A Panel Discussion focused on practical strategies to overcome gender harassment, at work and in school.

The landscape of sexual harassment has evolved since #MeToo went viral in 2017. Thankfully, more violent forms have declined. However, gender harassment and discrimination appear to have actually increased in the workplace and schools, including in engineering. Making matters worse, harassment continues to be substantially underreported, especially within engineering.

This panel discussion addresses practical strategies to improve the landscape of gender harassment. The discussion will be built around a framework drawn from a recent book that explores the current state of sexual harassment in engineering. Our four panelists are a diverse group of women engineers. Using their wealth of experiences and their expertise in the research literature, they will present a concrete picture of gender harassment and share solutions. A particular emphasis will be on those approaches that can be implemented from the bottom up – by individuals or workgroups – without relying on the top levels of the organization to take the initiative.

Since the term gender harassment is often confusing and ambiguous, the panel discussion will begin with a short introduction to both sexist and sexual gender harassment, comparing definitions between social science research and U.S. law.

The panel moderator will then explore with panelists: • How have you (or those around you) encountered gender harassment in your schooling and career? • How has gender harassment affected you (or those you have worked or gone to school with) in terms of both your well-being and your career? • How did you respond at the time? Do you now wish you had handled it differently? How? • What were responses by others to this harassment, and was that effective or even helpful? • What responses would have been better? How can harassment be best addressed and eliminated going forward?

In addition to these guiding questions, panelists will reflect on their intersectional identities of gender with age, race, or sexual orientation. There will be time for audience questions.

The end goal of the panel is to empower attendees to return to their schools and workplaces to recognize gender harassment and devise practical short- and long-term strategies for addressing and reducing such harassment within their own sphere of influence.

Floyd Smith, T., & VanAntwerp, J. J., & Misra, S., & Mullen, A., & Riskin, E. A., & Wilson, D. (2023, June), Gender Harassment at Work and In School: Seeing It; Solving It (Panel Discussion) Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--43777

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