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Why Do Women Philosophy Students Drop Out of Philosophy? Some Evidence from the Classroom at the Bachelor’s Level

Bibliographic Data

ID22109369
AuthorsCatherine Herfeld (0000-0002-1471-8457, University of Zurich), Jan Muller (0000-0002-7530-2025, University of Zurich), Kathrin von Allmen (0000-0003-3369-7804, University of Zurich)
Year2022
Volume8
Issue0
Publication date2022-12-28
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueErgo an Open Access Journal of Philosophy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2330-4014 • E-ISSN: 2330-4014
PublisherUniversity of Michigan Library (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.3998/ergo.2252
OpenAlexW4313413159
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited18

It is well known that there has been a steady and significant underrepresentation of women in philosophy on different professional levels. Numerous hypotheses explaining this underrepresentation have been suggested, but empirical analyses are not yet extensive. In particular, studies of the phenomenon in different countries are nonexistent. In this paper, we present findings from an exploratory study in which we analyze the interests, abilities, beliefs, attitudes, perceptions, and goals of bachelor’s students in a semester-long philosophy of science course at a major German university. We furthermore make the first attempt to compare women-only learning environments with mixed-gender learning environments. Our results suggest that while there are generally some gender differences regarding interests, abilities, beliefs, attitudes, perceptions, and goals of students in the classroom, most of the hypotheses we explore to explain dropout rates by gender differences cannot be supported. We conclude that possible factors leading to the underrepresentation of women in philosophy in Germany might be found in the social and institutional environment within which philosophy is taught

Bachelor · Exploratory research · Geography · German · Pedagogy · Perception · Political science · Social science · Sociology · Feminist Epistemology and Gender Studies · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology

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Unique citing works2
Citations per year1
Citation span2024 - 2025 (2)
Citation velocityrecent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 1
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