Research by Deneen M. Hatmaker at the University of Connecticut published in 2013 shows that women in engineering tend to fall within two main categories when dealing with the male dominance of the workplace: coping mechanisms and/or impression management.1 Internal coping mechanisms include ‘blocking’ and ‘rationalizing’: blocking involves using verbal blocks of any kind to stop any mention of gender or gender identity. This serves the purpose of bringing one’s professional identity to the foreground, and attempts to prevent any gendered biases, expectations or stereotypes affecting an
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