Walking on Gender Tightrope in the New World: International Female Students in STEM Graduate Programs

This phenomenological research explored how international female students understand the role of gender and national origin in their program experiences and how they cope with the challenges derived from their triple marginalities—gender, race/ethnicity, and foreign nationality. Based on in-depth interviews with 22 international female students enrolled in various STEM disciplines, we drew four thematic findings that illustrate the participants’ multiple marginalities and ironic coping strategies grounded in their prior cultural upbringing and contextualized in the hostile cultural environment of STEM programs against women. This study suggests that STEM educators in higher education understand the multifaceted struggles of international female students as a triple minority in their graduate programs and provide culturally relevant support and professional mentoring.