Reporting Student Gender Identity in Papers Presented at the ASEE Gulf-Southwest Conference

Valerie Lynch; Brandon Bakka; Mia K. Markey

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Conference: 2022 ASEE Gulf Southwest Annual Conference
Location: Prairie View, Texas
Publication Date: March 16, 2022
Start Date: March 16, 2022
End Date: March 18, 2022
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 5
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--39203
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/39203
Download Count: 330

Brandon Bakka is a doctoral candidate at the University of at Austin pursuing a degree in Biomedical Engineering with a certificate in engineering education. He received a BS in Chemical and Biological Engineering from Colorado School of Mines. Brandon is conducting research on the modes of resistance LGBTQIA+ students utilize in response to the climate in STEM departments. He is also running a LGBTQIA+ focus reading group for STEM students to further connect them with their identity, and is passionate about understanding and dismantling the systems in engineering that marginalize students.

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biography

Mia K. Markey The University of Texas at Austin

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Dr. Mia K. Markey is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Cullen Trust for Higher Education Endowed Professorship in Engineering #1 at The University of Texas at Austin as well as Adjunct Professor of Imaging Physics at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Markey is a 1994 graduate of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy. She has a B.S. in computational biology (Carnegie Mellon, 1998). Dr. Markey earned her Ph.D. in biomedical engineering (2002), along with a certificate in bioinformatics, from Duke University. Dr. Markey has been recognized for excellence in research and teaching with awards from organizations such as the American Medical Informatics Association, the American Society for Engineering Education, the American Cancer Society, and the Society for Women’s Health Research. She is a Fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), and is a Senior Member of both the IEEE and the SPIE.

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Abstract

Gender equity is a key goal of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in engineering education. Disaggregation of data in engineering education studies by gender identity is a critical first step. Transparent reporting of student gender identity in engineering education studies enables researchers to investigate gender-based comparisons of educational experiences, outcomes, and interventions. In this paper, we will present an analysis of gender reporting practices in papers published in the proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Education Gulf-Southwest (ASEE GSW) conference. In this abstract, we share preliminary results for the 2021 proceedings, which we intend to expand to other recent years for our proceedings paper and conference presentation. Of the 62 papers published in the 2021 ASEE GSW proceedings, we focus our attention on the 42/62 that were educational papers, as opposed to technical papers. We further limit our analysis to the 33/42 educational papers that reported data about students, as opposed to faculty data or other topics. Of these, 19/33 educational papers reported that they surveyed or collected demographic data from students. Of these, only 4/19 educational papers indicated that students’ gender information was collected. Moreover, none of the papers acknowledged that students may have gender identities beyond a gender binary of male/female. This lack of recognition of other gender identities results in a significant erasure of students, many LGBTQ+ identifying. Furthermore, none of the papers considered students at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities, such as race and gender. By not examining these factors, analysis of student populations is incomplete, and the experiences of key student populations are ignored. The analyses presented in this paper demonstrate a need for transparent reporting of engineering education studies with results disaggregated by gender identity, including consideration of genders other than male and female. We propose that ASEE GSW authors provide students who are the subjects of engineering education research or evaluation studies with the opportunity to self-report their gender identity following best practices such as are recommended in other domains, e.g., healthcare.

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Format

Lynch, V., & Bakka, B., & Markey, M. K. (2022, March), Reporting Student Gender Identity in Papers Presented at the ASEE Gulf-Southwest Conference Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Gulf Southwest Annual Conference, Prairie View, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--39203

TY - CPAPER
AB - Gender equity is a key goal of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in engineering education. Disaggregation of data in engineering education studies by gender identity is a critical first step. Transparent reporting of student gender identity in engineering education studies enables researchers to investigate gender-based comparisons of educational experiences, outcomes, and interventions. In this paper, we will present an analysis of gender reporting practices in papers published in the proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Education Gulf-Southwest (ASEE GSW) conference. In this abstract, we share preliminary results for the 2021 proceedings, which we intend to expand to other recent years for our proceedings paper and conference presentation. Of the 62 papers published in the 2021 ASEE GSW proceedings, we focus our attention on the 42/62 that were educational papers, as opposed to technical papers. We further limit our analysis to the 33/42 educational papers that reported data about students, as opposed to faculty data or other topics. Of these, 19/33 educational papers reported that they surveyed or collected demographic data from students. Of these, only 4/19 educational papers indicated that students’ gender information was collected. Moreover, none of the papers acknowledged that students may have gender identities beyond a gender binary of male/female. This lack of recognition of other gender identities results in a significant erasure of students, many LGBTQ+ identifying. Furthermore, none of the papers considered students at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities, such as race and gender. By not examining these factors, analysis of student populations is incomplete, and the experiences of key student populations are ignored. The analyses presented in this paper demonstrate a need for transparent reporting of engineering education studies with results disaggregated by gender identity, including consideration of genders other than male and female. We propose that ASEE GSW authors provide students who are the subjects of engineering education research or evaluation studies with the opportunity to self-report their gender identity following best practices such as are recommended in other domains, e.g., healthcare.
AU - Valerie Lynch
AU - Brandon Bakka
AU - Mia K. Markey
CY - Prairie View, Texas
DA - 2022/03/16
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Reporting Student Gender Identity in Papers Presented at the ASEE Gulf-Southwest Conference
UR - https://peer.asee.org/39203
DO - 10.18260/1-2--39203
ER -