Alice Pawley asked us to take reading notes for her "Gender, Race, & Class in Engineering Education" course. Naturally, mine come out in visual form. (Click to enlarge.)
Here's Kacey Beddoes' 2011 article unpacking how we talk about (under)representation in engineering education, questioning our habits of thought and where they come from. Beddoes mostly focuses on gender, but her article is relevant to race/age/ethnicity/class/etc. too. The full article is open-access and worth reading if you've ever noticed we make the same arguments for diversity-in-technology over and over again ("Because it's just and fair to have more Hispanics in STEM!" "Because disabled people will bring empathy to our field!" "Because more female engineers will help our country be competitive!") and wondered where those arguments come from and what they might be sweeping under the rug. After all, as a disabled minority woman, I'd like to think I'm more than just a warm engineering body that can Help My Company Compete... and I don't know I'm actually more nurturing/empathetic/whatever than some of the awesome white able-bodied guys I work with.
