Experiences of female early-career professionals in male-dominated STEM companies in Kazakhstan

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan put forward elaborate initiatives to address gender segregation in the labour market. However, female professionals are still heavily underrepresented in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Considering conflicting cultural influences on the role of women in the country and guided by the social cognitive theory, the present study explores the early career experiences of female professionals working in STEM companies in Kazakhstan. The thematic analysis of 24 semi-structured interviews with early-career female professionals showed that social structural challenges with recruitment and promotion, organization integration and work-life balance prevent women from building successful careers in STEM. It was also found that to counterbalance these challenges, female professionals develop a variety of coping strategies such as projecting a professional image and adopting a masculine interaction style, conforming to the existing status quo and challenging gender discrimination and stigmatization. Drawing from the social cognitive theory, this study revealed that conflicting gender role expectations based on traditional, Western and Soviet cultural values might disempower and undermine women's agency in transitioning to employment in STEM.