Gendered Habitus in Engineering: Experiences of Brazilian Students

This paper discusses the ways in which an ‘engineering habitus’, that in the first instance presents itself as a predominantly masculinized habitus - because its inclinations, competences and dispositions are homologous to the cultural repertoire traditionally associated with men – may change with the growing presence of women in the field. We draw from the perspective advanced by Bourdieu, in particular the key notions of habitus, capital and field, to explore how particular competences, dispositions and classificatory principles operate in the field of engineering. The study is based on qualitative in-depth analysis of the socialization trajectories of 10 students (five men and five women) enrolled in an engineering degree in a publicly-funded Brazilian university, as well as on quantitative secondary data about the students. This is placed in broader national and international contexts. The socialization trajectories of both women and men studying engineering demonstrate that the experiences of women are patterned by a double bind in cultural repertoires, which affect traditional associations with gender. An engineering gendered habitus not conforming to the stereotypical and dominant masculine is in evidence, as women not only develop competences and dispositions homologous to the traditional masculine habitus, but also show inclinations and affinities commonly associated with femininity. The study advances the hypothesis that the growing participation of women in engineering drives this process, challenging traditional gender divisions and propelling a more flexible gendered engineering habitus in the field. We propose that the phenomenon discussed here deserves further investigation

Effective Sublattice Magnetization and Neel Temperature in Quantum Antiferromagnets

We present an analytic expression for the finite temperature effective sublattice magnetization which would be detected by inelastic neutron scattering experiments performed on a two-dimensional square-lattice quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnets with short range N\'eel order. Our expression, which has no adjustable parameters, is able to reproduce both the qualitative behaviour of the phase diagram $M(T)xT$ and the experimental values of the N\'eel temperature $T_{N}$ for either doped YBa$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$O$_{6.15}$ and stoichiometric La$_{2}$CuO$_{4}$ compounds. Finally, we remark that by incorporating frustration and 3D effects as perturbations is sufficient to explain the deviation of the experimental data from our theoretical curves.Comment: 4 pages, RevTex, 3 figure