A gendered perspective of challenges women in engineering careers face to reach leadership positions: A innovative theoretical model from Brazilian students' perceptions

Careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are strongly associated with men, and women remain underrepresented in these fields. This article puts forward a relational theoretical model on the main challenges that women face to be better represented with regard to reaching leadership positions in STEM careers. A qualitative analysis was conducted using semi-structured interviews. These interviews were with women engineering students from the state of Pernambuco, Brazil. Qualitative analysis was used when matching their perceptions with studies identified in the literature. The results indicate that gender stereotypes about the idealization of traditional roles attributed to women, combined with female under-representation in engineering careers, have led to there being an imbalance in their reaching and occupying leadership positions. The results may also imply that these students consider it important for public and organizational policies to be adopted that seek gender parity in the corporate world of STEM.