Females enrolled in master degree programs supervised by male supervisors: a perception of their supervision
We started from two observations: 1) when students enter the master’s degree, they experience for the first time a new pedagogical relationship, which is supervision; 2) in the master’s degree, young female researchers are most often supervised by a male supervisor. How do young female researchers supervised by a male supervisor perceive the supervision? What perceptions do they have of themselves and their supervisor, in terms of the three dimensions: scientific, institutional and relational? To conduct this research, we interviewed eleven female students enrolled in a master degree program. The results show that young researchers perceive their role, the role of their supervisor and their supervision relationship in a very hierarchical relation. They also experience difficulties in communicating with their supervisors and managing the interpersonal relationships. Finally, the relational dimension is considered by female students as the central point of their supervision relationship and their main source of dissatisfaction.