Vietnamese American Women in STEM: Negotiating the Tension of Gender, Ethnicity, and Generational Identity in Pharmaceutical Sciences

Abstract

The goal of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of how younger generations of Southeast Asian Americans, and particularly Vietnamese American women in Southern California, are navigating their gender, ethnicity, and bicultural identities that ultimately resulted in hyper selection of pharmaceutical science as a career path. Literature from prior studies have shown that Southeast Asian Americans occupy a unique position because they are viewed both as overachieving model minorities and as deviant minorities. As a result, the polarized stereotypes placed upon them interact to shape the experiences of Southeast Asian Americans, yet neither properly explains the complexities of their experiences relative to higher education. My study focused on the lived experiences of 18 women who were the children of Vietnamese refugee immigrants (2 participants identified as Chinese-Vietnamese Americans). Participants were either currently enrolled in pharmacy school, working as pharmacy residents, or were pharmacy school alumnae practicing as doctors of pharmacy in Southern California. As a qualitative study, I employed Hermeneutic Phenomenological Inquiry as my methodology. Leaning on Yosso’s Community Cultural Wealth as my selected theoretical framework, my findings suggested the paradoxical phenomenon underlying Vietnamese American women’s hyper-selection of pharmaceutical science was a result of how these women negotiated their personal and professional identities through patriarchy, whiteness, and their personal journeys. In identifying how the intersection of having a bicultural identity converges with gender role expectations both within the home and the workplace, Vietnamese American women have selected pharmaceutical science as an instrument to support successful navigation of their intersectional identity, personal interests, and familial obligations. Despite their experiences with racism, sexism, and ageism, participants remain hopeful that the American Dream of having self-authority, self-autonomy, and financial independence is attainable for Vietnamese American women through STEM-related career opportunities such as pharmaceutical science.