Women Engineers on Their Way to Leadership: The Role of Social Support Within Engineering Work Cultures

Abstract

Women engineers in Germany rarely reach the higher management levels of companies. The men-dominated work culture in engineering is regarded as one of the reasons for this. In particular, because there is a masculine ‘engineering habitus’, the women’s habitus conflicts with the field-specific rules. However, successful women engineers are able to deal with and adapt to the ‘engineering habitus’ to integrate into the profession. This study examines the importance of the help of others in overcoming this problem. It asks how social support promotes the adaptation to an engineering habitus that benefits women engineers who aim to achieve leadership positions. To answer this question, qualitative interviews with women engineers who hold leadership positions were analyzed. The results reveal that the adaptation to the engineering habitus can be facilitated by the social support of various persons. In particular, supervisors, role models, and colleagues introduce women to the work culture and they give them access to higher-status persons. Partners and women’s networks provide emotional support to deal with gender-specific challenges and they help to alleviate the conflict between their roles as women, mothers, and engineers. This study deals critically with masculine norms in engineering and highlights the need for an inclusive work culture.