Women in Philosophy: A Qualitative Assessment of Experiences at the Undergraduate Level

Aymelek, Crystal Nicole Lilith

doi:10.15760/mcnair.2015.6

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 19 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Paxton et al () do not test for effects of gender of instructor on the gender proportion of majors. A smaller qualitative survey found that nearly all of the women philosophy majors surveyed took two or more courses from women instructors, and all felt that the presence of women role models is important (Aymelek, ). Although some groups have empirically explored the hypothesis and found no relationship (Thompson et al, ), their results are based on a small sample size of female instructors and must be viewed with caution.…”

Section: Potential Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Explanations of the gender gap in philosophy

Thompson

2017

Philosophy Compass

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recently, researchers have begun to empirically investigate the gender gap in philosophy and provide potential explanations for the underrepresentation of women in philosophy relative to their representation in other disciplines. This empirical research as well as research on the gender gap in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics fields has shed light on a priori, armchair explanations of the gender gap. For example, implicit bias and stereotype threat may contribute much less to the philosophy gender gap than previously thought. However, new candidate contributing factors have emerged. Drawing on the theoretical resources concerning fixed mindsets in response to difficult tasks, a new theory suggests that practitioners in various fields, including philosophy, hold the belief that success in their fields requires natural brilliance (a brilliance‐based field‐specific ability belief). Further, the extent to which members of a field hold that belief predicts the diversity of the members of that field. Initial findings suggest that among the set of students who hold these beliefs, women are disproportionately disinterested in continuing in philosophy. Other hypotheses seem plausible, such as the idea that lay people hold gendered schemas about philosophy, but require more empirical support to be partial explanations. Future empirical research should focus on these plausible hypotheses, replications of previous findings, and investigating the effects of intersectionality within the gender gap.

show abstract

Section: Potential Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Explanations of the gender gap in philosophy

Thompson

2017

Philosophy Compass

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…There is also a general case to be made that pre-university exposure to philosophy, of which philosophy competitions are an important part, is conducive to diversity within the discipline. There is some qualitative evidence that women who continue in philosophy are more likely to have been exposed to philosophy prior to college (Aymelek 2015). This fits with the fact that female drop-off in the UK occurs most dramatically at a later stage than in the US and Australia, between undergraduate and master's level study (Beebee & Saul 2011, p. 8).…”

Section: High School Philosophy Competitionsmentioning

confidence: 76%

Winning in philosophy: Female under-representation, competitiveness, and implications for inclusive high school philosophy competitions

Easton

2022

Journal of Philosophy in Schools

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Women are currently under-represented in academic philosophy. This paper first considers ways in which the competitive atmosphere of philosophy might help explain this lack of diversity. For example, women are stereotyped as less competitive and as less capable of exhibiting what are considered 'winning behaviours' in philosophy, leading to a more stressful, less rewarding experience; lower assessments of merit by themselves and others; and potential under-performance. Second, this paper draws out the implications of this discussion for high school philosophy competitions. Are these competitions likely to further exacerbate existing trends of representation, by associating philosophy with competition and winning? I argue that the way that these philosophy competitions are set up, as friendly, low-stakes team events, rewarding attributes that are 'stereotypically female', mean that these events are likely to support, rather than damage, diversity in the discipline. Indeed, there are reasons to think that these events form an important part of an image-change that is required for philosophy if it is to become a more diverse discipline at university-level and beyond. I finish by offering a series of practical recommendations for high school philosophy competitions, in light of the aim of increasing diversity in academic philosophy, but also with the more immediate aim of making these competitions inclusive, enjoyable events for everyone.

show abstract

“…5 For a broader review of the literature on female underrepresentation in philosophy, specifically regarding the two common models for conceptualizing this problem, see Antony 2012. been gathered by one other researcher we could find: Crystal Nicole Lilith Aymelek conducted one-on-one interviews with women who were philosophy majors or had recently graduated with a philosophy major. Her goal was to identify the factors that encouraged them to stick with the subject (Aymelek 2015). Our paper, like Aymelek's, seeks to understand the gender gap "from the perspective of the actual experiences of women in philosophy" (8).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Focus Groups to Explore the Underrepresentation of Female-Identified Undergraduate Students in Philosophy

Lockard

Meskhidze

Wilson

et al. 2017

fpq

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper is part of a larger project designed to examine and ameliorate the underrepresentation of female-identified students in the philosophy department at Elon University. The larger project involved a variety of research methods, including statistical analysis of extant registration and grade distribution data from our department as well as the administration of multiple surveys. Here, we provide a description and analysis of one aspect of our research: focus groups. We ran three focus groups of female-identified undergraduate students: one group consisted of students who had taken more than one philosophy class, one consisted of students who had taken only one philosophy class, and one consisted of students who had taken no philosophy classes. After analyzing the results of the focus groups, we find evidence that: (1) one philosophy class alone did not cultivate a growth mindset among female-identified students of philosophy, (2) professors have the potential to ameliorate (or reinforce) students’ (mis)perceptions of philosophy; and (3) students who have not taken philosophy are likely to see their manner of thinking as being at odds with that required by philosophy. We conclude by articulating a series of questions worthy of further study.

show abstract

Women in Philosophy: A Qualitative Assessment of Experiences at the Undergraduate Level

Cited by 5 publications

References 19 publications

Explanations of the gender gap in philosophy

Explanations of the gender gap in philosophy

Winning in philosophy: Female under-representation, competitiveness, and implications for inclusive high school philosophy competitions

Using Focus Groups to Explore the Underrepresentation of Female-Identified Undergraduate Students in Philosophy

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About