Article ID: CBB946690703

Becoming an Engineer or a Lady Engineer: Exploring Professional Performance and Masculinity in Nepal’s Department of Irrigation (2017)

unapi

Liebrand, Janwillem (Author)


Engineering Studies
Volume: 9
Issue: 2
Pages: 120-139


Publication Date: 2017
Edition Details: Special Issue: Engineering Masculinities in Water Governance
Language: English

In this article, using the Department of Irrigation in Nepal as a case study, we argue that professional performance in irrigation engineering and water resources development is gendered and normalised as ‘masculine’. In Nepal, the masculinity of professional performance in irrigation engineering is located in intersections of gender, class, caste, ethnicity, sexuality, nationality and disciplinary education, and hinders especially female engineers to perform as a ‘normal’ engineer. Our analysis is based on interviews with male and female engineers in the department, documentation research, and ethnographic observations in the period 2005–2011. Our study suggests that professional performances and engineering identities in the organisation have always been tied to performances of masculinity. This implies that career prospects in the Nepalese irrigation department for female engineers remain grim; because for them to succeed and belong, they have to reconcile the near incommensurable: a performance of a ‘lady engineer’ with that of a ‘normal’ engineer.

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Article Margreet Zwarteveen; Edwin Rap (2017) Guest Editor’s Introduction: Engineering Masculinities in Water Governance. Engineering Studies (pp. 75-77). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB946690703/

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Authors & Contributors
Kacey Beddoes
William Barr II
Delgado, Juana R. Vega
Characklis, Gregory W.
Anna Salvatorelli
Jenniches, Suzanne
Concepts
Engineering
Technology and gender
Women in engineering
Water resource management
Education, engineering
Feminist analysis
Time Periods
21st century
20th century
Renaissance
20th century, late
17th century
16th century
Places
United States
Andes
Peru
Haiti (Caribbean)
Italy
Germany
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