Minority women pursuing engineering tend to face differences in "stereotypes, isolation, perceptions of racism, ethnic cultural values and socialization, and inadequate program support". Generally there are negative stereotypes among minorities when talking about STEM programs, minorities who decide to study engineering tend to be looked down upon by there social peer group. Also minority students academic groups usually include engineers but tend to exclude engineering students in their social groups for fear of being made fun of. This may be the effect of the low number of
ethnic minority students in the engineering program along with the stereotypes.
The way students view themselves and how they believe others view them affects their sense of belonging and feelings of difference in their academic community. For example, due to the negative stereotypes of African Americans in academic settings, African American students may experience stereotype threats. The threat of being judged or treated stereo-typically adds pressure and may lead students to under-perform academically. Or the threat could cause the person to completely act out of character from their normal and behave in a way deemed appropriate by their race and/or gender.
The way students view themselves and how they believe others view them affects their sense of belonging and feelings of difference in their academic community. For example, due to the negative stereotypes of African Americans in academic settings, African American students may experience stereotype threats. The threat of being judged or treated stereo-typically adds pressure and may lead students to under-perform academically. Or the threat could cause the person to completely act out of character from their normal and behave in a way deemed appropriate by their race and/or gender.