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Breaking Patterns? How Female Scientists Negotiate their Token Role in their Life Stories
Author(s) -
Haas Marita,
Koeszegi Sabine T.,
Zedlacher Eva
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
gender, work and organization
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.159
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1468-0432
pISSN - 0968-6673
DOI - 10.1111/gwao.12124
Subject(s) - negotiation , security token , sociology , psychology , social psychology , categorization , periodization , set (abstract data type) , gender studies , epistemology , computer science , social science , history , philosophy , archaeology , programming language , computer security
Building upon token theory, this paper analyses coping behaviours of women in Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) through a professional identity perspective. It proposes that female scientists need to negotiate and balance conflicting aspects of their professional and gender identities throughout their career. A reconstructive biography analysis of Leitmotif and Gestalt of 15 life stories reveals that gender is the structuring element of the female scientists' self‐presentation. The paper presents two key cases which exemplify two alternative coping strategies: the women either use a similarity strategy , relying on full assimilation to the masculine norms in SET, or a difference strategy , highlighting their otherness and their struggle for equality. The in‐depth analysis reveals that both strategies cannot ‘break patterns', but instead leave the dominance of masculine norms in SET unchallenged. Implications of these findings are discussed.