Women In Engineering: Insight Into Why Some Engineering Departments Have More Success In Recruiting And Graduating Women

Abstract

Universities across the United States (U.S.) are perplexed as to why fewer women than men study engineering and why even fewer complete the curriculum and earn an undergraduate degree in engineering. The percentage of undergraduate engineering degrees awarded annually to women in the U.S. since 2000 has remained relatively constant at around 20%. However, some engineering disciplines have had much greater success in graduating women, with some programs awarding 50% or more of their bachelor’s degrees to women. The purpose of this research was to gain a better understanding of why women preferred certain engineering disciplines over others. Up to 17 years of undergraduate engineering department data from the University of Florida (UF) and national averages from the National Science Foundation (NSF) were reviewed to evaluate graduation rates for women in engineering. The total number of graduates at the undergraduate level were compared to the number of undergraduates who identified themselves as women. Linear regression of the data was used to identify trends. In the last 17 years, there has been little change in the overall percentage of women engineering undergraduates, but there is a great disparity between the engineering disciplines. Women earn larger proportions of undergraduate degrees in engineering disciplines where they perceive a societal benefit. How can engineering departments improve their enrollment and retention of women? One way is by providing early-on specific real life examples of how engineers solve society’s most challenging problems.

Community engagement in engineering education: A systematic literature review

“…As Faulkner (2009) admitted, future studies definitely need to recruit more women to promote a more integrated socio-technical understanding of engineering and support more inclusive disciplinary membership. For example, as women show a greater interest in solving societal issues (Shealy et al, 2016), engineering departments can tactically attract and retain more women in engineering by providing specific real-life examples of how an engineering discipline benefits society (Bossart & Bharti, 2017). Creating a female-friendly curriculum and environment would also be helpful to attract more women into engineering programs, such as problem-based learning and technical skill-based assessment methods (Du & Kolmos, 2009).…”

Participation of Women in Engineering & Technology Education and Employment

“…There are various factors for this under representation. Such as studies by [2], [8], [21], [14] [13], [25] found high school educational background, family education and lack of role models have an impact on decision to study engineering and technology. Studies [16], [19], [17], [24]; [6], [22], [23], [26]found that employment participation of women engineering and technology is low and is male dominated sector.…”

Women Enrolled in Engineering Programs: Their Interests and Goals

“…Although overall the university enrolls more undergraduate women [9], this is not true for the college of engineering. As reported in 2016 only 24% of undergraduates and graduates seeking engineering degrees at this university were women [10].…”

“…Interest was a major driving force for these women to choose engineering; future research may look at what sparks an interest in engineering, and how this interest is sustained. As previous research has shown, this may involve seeing engineering as a way to make a difference in the lives of others/improving society [10], [39], [28] as well as addressing the desire for a successful and stable career.…”