This document summarizes a study on the cultural discourses influencing career choices for Indian women in STEM fields. The researchers conducted interviews with 30 female college students in India to identify themes in their discussions of career choice. They found that women navigate the tension between pro-technology and anti-technology cultural views. Family also plays a key role as a knowledge resource, influencing choices in ways aligned with social perceptions. While autonomy is desired, pragmatism and social status take priority over individual interests for many participants. The study aims to further understanding of cultural influences on career paths and representations of women in STEM globally and nationally.

1. Purdue ADVANCE Symposium 2011 Lorraine Kisselburgh, Rahul Rastogi & PatriceBuzzanell Purdue University Choosing STEM careers: The Dialectical Discourses of 21st century Indian women

2. Goals and Approach Goals Understand cultural construction of career choicefor Indian women Approach Adopt a discursive perspective, exploring messages, stories, & overarching Discourses Use qualitative methodologies to examine discursive constructions of career choice

3. Literature Dialectics Dialectics affords conceptualizing of oppositionalities as dynamic and interacting. A Dialectic approach focuses on the tension that emerges from a unity of two opposites (Baxter & Montgomery, 1996). The opposite ends however are not static entities providing binary either/or choice frames; they are interdependent such that a change in one impacts the other. In line with Mikhail Bakhtin’s notion of dialogic view of dialectics the research conceives of the tensions between opposites as managing ongoing social forces rather than as problems that need solutions. Oppositionalities are thus seen as playing a role in the creation of meaning rather than problems that need to be resolved. Dialectics is particularly suited to studying how gender differences create fundamental tensions in organizational relationships and how individuals manage these tensions in ways that constrain or enable them (Ashcraft, 2001; Martin, 2004; Trethewey, 1997).

4. Literature Discourse theory The role of discourses is pivotal to career perceptions in STEM. “The work of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and associated careers offer a site in which the d/Discourses of work and careers are complexly manifested and contested.” (Kisselburgh, Berkelaar and Buzzanell, 2009) The conception of Discourse in the current research follows Foucault’s view of Discourses as structures that produce knowledge. Central to Foucault’s argument is the interrelationship between power and knowledge, which highlights the inextricable link between the production of knowledge and the exercise of power. Foucault (1980) states, “‘Truth’ is linked in a circular relation with systems of power which produce and sustain it, and to effects of power which it induces and which extend it.

5. Literature Dominant worldviews The centrality attributed to discursive formations comes from their ability to construct dominant worldviews that make it difficult to think beyond them. Foucault (1982) makes this point well when he states: “One cannot speak of anything at any time; it is not easy to say something new; it is not enough for us to open our eyes, to pay attention, to be aware, for new objects suddenly to light up and emerge out of the ground.” According to Mukhopadhyay and Seymour (1994), Indian women experience patrifocality and within this system of patrifocality, educational decisions arise from family, not individual choices.

6. Research questions What are the motivations and influences on career decisions made by Indian college women choosing STEM careers; How do Indian women navigate conflicts and transitions in career decisions; and What are the images, messages, and ideals about careers articulated by college women choosing STEM careers?

7. Methods Participants (N=30) Female college sophomores in India (Lucknow area) Procedures Semi-structured 45-minute interviews Sessions recorded, translated and transcribed Inductive thematic analysis

8. Review of themes The pro and anti technology dialectic Talking choice Autonomy and Identity

9. Themes Theme 1

10. “yes, there is this notion in the society that science is better than arts or those who study science are better students, this is the kind of notion people have” (IN #2) “most of the girls are going with arts because it is simple and has not much to do with thinking and all.. It’s a larger society thing” (IN#11) The pro and anti technology dialectic The pro technology discourse The anti technology discourse Evaluation of self based on the ability to do well in STEM fields “like BA only is not a bad thing but parents are very shy and embarrassed to admit that” (IN#8) The act of choosing a science career is located within the dialectic of the pro and anti technology discourses. Where the former is a counter discourse to the latter and has prestige value attached to it.

11. “she just has to take that what she is interested in maths or science or any other stream she should go for that tough situations should be handled not given up” (IN #3) The pro and anti technology dialectic Advice to follow your interest. Just go for it, you shouldn’t regret it later. (IN#5) “ I won’t advise I would try and extract what her interest is and then ask her to pursue that.” (IN#15) The universal advice of choosing according to one’s interest puts a question mark on the ability of female students to do so.

12. Themes Theme 2

13. Talking choice “Ya, somehow the school told us to take biology” (IN#5) “people said neurology from girls? I don’t know whether anyone would believe it you should go for gynecology” (IN#13) “they knew that I could do it.” (IN#16) “ I think everybody first and foremost talks to their family and relatives.” (IN#27) “the atmosphere is like that in my home dad and uncles have done engineering only so everyone talks of these things.” (IN#20) The role of the family as a resource An impetus for science is also an impetus for certain subdisciplines. Doing well at science is a matter of prestige for the family. The role of family as a knowledge resource is critical when seen alongside the prestige associated with STEM careers. ‘Choice’ thus becomes problematic.

14. Talking choice “I don’t think boys care about the family too much, they fight and at the end get what they want. I think about my family” “so basically it was a pragmatic decision not a conflict.” (IN#22) “ I should be a scholar or educated person like M.Sc in Biotech so that people can be proud of me.” (IN#7) “basically it’s the family only there is a lot of pressure from the society as well. Family is in turn influenced by society it is like vicious circle” (IN#18) The validity of pragmatism as the final evaluative criterion. The impossibility of dissent. The impetus towards science is a response to a larger societal expectation. Evaluation of careers in terms of their pragmatic aspects can be expected more often than not to obviate alternate career choices.

15. Themes Theme 3

16. Autonomy and Identity “To become independent to help the family, not to be dependent on anyone for anything” (IN#11) “ I can do my choreography thing later as well this is the time for me to study” (IN#9) “ my interest is not more important than my status” (IN#26) Career choices made on the premise of interests as well as the promise they hold in future. Choices are justified by their promise of greater autonomy at a later life stage. Compromise of interest in favor of social status. The postponing of self interests.

17. Autonomy and Identity “I want to become something so that I am able to stand on my own and not need anyone’s support, I want to become something that shows what I am, I don’t want people to say that I am a nothing” (IN#9) “I want people to know my name and see that in textbooks” (IN#29) “Engineering provides bigger opportunities, economic progress” (IN#26) The ambition for recognition. The motivation of proving one’s worth. The desire for economic progress. Autonomy viewed as a means to expressing individuality.

18. Discussion The pro technology discourse as a counter discourse to the anti technology discourse situates girls in a dialectic tension. The universal advice in favor of pursuing one’s own interests is evidence of the inability of girls to do so. Families becoming a resource leads to the structuring of knowledge in particular ways that are in marked consonance with popular perceptions. This also leads to formation of spaces where dissent is difficult.

19. Discussion The acceptance of pragmatism as the major evaluative criterion is problematic when juxtaposed with the fact that families are the knowledge resources as well. This turns the space of discussion into a binary either/ or choice and reduces opportunities to break out of gender expectations. The ambition for autonomy as a means for individuality is reflective of the inability to realize individual choices at earlier stages. The postponing of interests evidences the internalization of the line of thought that approaches pragmatics over individual interest as a mutually exclusive binary.

20. Intended Contributions The study aims to further the understanding of cultural discourses that influence career choices and meanings of work. The study aims to contribute to understanding cultural complexities in the representation of women in STEM occupations with particular attention to intersections of gender, patriarchy and shifting geopolitical contexts that shift narratives about science and technology. The study aims to further notions of constructions of self-identity with respect to cultural discourses and contexts.

21. Implications The importance of cultural influences with respect to the complexities influencing career choices in pre-college adults. Understanding representation of women in STEM and career paths chosen by women within STEM requires one to understand the issue in terms of global as well as cultural and national terms.

22. Lorraine Kisselburgh lorraine@purdue.edu Rahul Rastogi rrastogi@purdue.edu Patrice Buzzanell buzzanel@purdue.edu Purdue University