Gender in Bethel University’s Political Science Department: A Qualitative Study of the Experiences of Female Political Science Students

Authors

Sarah E. Bylsma, Bethel University

Document Type

Paper

Abstract

In one political science class I took recently, I noticed some interesting behaviors among myself and my classmates...This situation got me thinking about the role that gender plays in politics, and this course gave me the opportunity to closely examine how gender may be playing a role in the Political Science Department at Bethel. Currently, Bethel has no female political science professors, despite intentional efforts to look for female candidates during the most recent hiring process. Statistically speaking, the Political Science Department, which consists of three majors: Political Science, Business and Political Science, and International Relations, is comprised of 45% female students and 55% male students; the average between Fall 2009 and Fall 2017 is 49% female and 51% male. So, although almost half of students in the department are female, the faculty does not reflect that. (Note that the above data does not fully account for variables such as undeclared but pursuant majors, adding or dropping the majors, it just gives basic, cold numbers.) Gender parity is a prolonged and serious issue in political science, political science departments, and the political arena throughout the United States. This begs the question: where does Bethel fit into this? The intention of this paper is not to be a diatribe against Bethel’s Political Science Department, but to explore how gender affects the department.

Department(s)

History, Philosophy and Political Science

Date Accepted/Awarded

11-2019

Award/Distinction

Library Research Prize - First Place Winner

Course

SOC350 Qualitative Research Methods

First Advisor/Reader

Harley Schreck

Comments

This paper was created within the Department of Anthropology, Sociology and Reconciliation Studies which was closed in 2019.

Recommended Citation

Bylsma, Sarah E., "Gender in Bethel University’s Political Science Department: A Qualitative Study of the Experiences of Female Political Science Students" (2019). Library Research Prize Student Works. 5.
https://spark.bethel.edu/library-research-prize-work/5

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Terms of Use and License Information

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