2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

A Panel Discussion focused on practical strategies to overcome gender harassment, at work and in school.

The landscape of sexual harassment has evolved since #MeToo went viral in 2017. Thankfully, more violent forms have declined. However, gender harassment and discrimination appear to have actually increased in the workplace and schools, including in engineering. Making matters worse, harassment continues to be substantially underreported, especially within engineering.

This panel discussion addresses practical strategies to improve the landscape of gender harassment. The discussion will be built around a framework drawn from a recent book that explores the current state of sexual harassment in engineering. Our four panelists are a diverse group of women engineers. Using their wealth of experiences and their expertise in the research literature, they will present a concrete picture of gender harassment and share solutions. A particular emphasis will be on those approaches that can be implemented from the bottom up – by individuals or workgroups – without relying on the top levels of the organization to take the initiative.

Since the term gender harassment is often confusing and ambiguous, the panel discussion will begin with a short introduction to both sexist and sexual gender harassment, comparing definitions between social science research and U.S. law.

The panel moderator will then explore with panelists:
• How have you (or those around you) encountered gender harassment in your schooling and career?
• How has gender harassment affected you (or those you have worked or gone to school with) in terms of both your well-being and your career?
• How did you respond at the time? Do you now wish you had handled it differently? How?
• What were responses by others to this harassment, and was that effective or even helpful?
• What responses would have been better? How can harassment be best addressed and eliminated going forward?

In addition to these guiding questions, panelists will reflect on their intersectional identities of gender with age, race, or sexual orientation. There will be time for audience questions.

The end goal of the panel is to empower attendees to return to their schools and workplaces to recognize gender harassment and devise practical short- and long-term strategies for addressing and reducing such harassment within their own sphere of influence.