Revisiting engineering culture(s): a feminist study on gender and work for change in Swedish engineering

Background

Despite sustained efforts, the engineering profession in Sweden remains predominantly male dominated, with women still significantly underrepresented in senior roles and within technical domains. At the same time, the dominant discourse in today’s society is that the climate change and other societal challenges can be solved through technological innovations, with engineers being invaluable resources in this transition. As engineers are seen as critical resources in transforming our future world and workplaces, there is a need to understand the engineering cultures in which engineers come into being and work within, and how these contexts challenge and reproduce inequalities.

This project is carried out as a PhD project where Erica Blomstrand is a doctoral student in the field of gender and organization. The PhD position is located at INDEK, Docent Charlotte Holgersson is main supervisor, and Professor Johann Packendorff is co-supervisor.

Aims and objectives

Through a feminist organization theory lens, this research seeks to explore how inequalities in engineering persist, while also exploring efforts to address these inequalities, particularly in organizational contexts where engineers come into being (engineering education) and work within (industry). Through qualitative methods, the thesis explores the ongoing construction of engineering cultures in Sweden by stuying how gender inequalities are reproduced and challenged in engineering cultures. The project holds an emancipatory ambition, aiming to contribute to ongoing efforts to improve gender equality within engineering.

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