December 2009
Concepts
Why Don't American Women Stay in Engineering?
BY PEGGY LAYNE, P.E.
In 1964, staff writer Sigrid Marczoch wrote an article entitled "Why Don't American Women Go Into Engineering" for the August issue of The American Engineer, a predecessor of PE magazine, published by NSPE. Marczoch noted that in the early 1960s women constituted only about 1% of engineers in the U.S., and obstacles to women pursuing careers in engineering included high school guidance counselors who discouraged them, employers who would not hire them, and the challenges of working in an overwhelmingly male environment. Nevertheless, Marczoch quotes several successful women describing the rewards of an engineering career: "It has been a fascinating profession, and I firmly believe that the field of engineering offers some excellent opportunities for women."
Ten years later, Naomi McAfee, past president of the Society of Women Engineers, wrote of "Brighter Prospects for Women in Engineering" in the American Society for Engineering Education's journal Engineering Education. McAfee observed that female engineering graduates were much sought after by employers, but once employed, promotions tended to come more slowly for women than for men. McAfee concluded: "The only way to maintain our current standard of living is through technology, which means that engineers will continue to be in demand. ? Consequently, we can expect women to enter the engineering profession in greater numbers."
At that point, women still made up less than 1% of the engineers in the U.S., but things were changing quickly. From the early 1970s to the mid-1980s, the percentage of women earning bachelor's degrees from U.S. engineering schools rose from 0.8% in 1971 to 14.8% in 1985, the peak of engineering bachelor's degree production in this country. The percentage of engineering degrees awarded to women continued to grow, but at a much slower rate, reaching a high of 20.6% in 2000 before slipping back to 18.6% in 2007. In terms of absolute numbers, more than 1,000 women earned bachelor's degrees in engineering for the first time in 1976, growing more than ten times to exceed 10,000 in 1984 and then creeping to a peak of over 15,000 in 2004.
Many explanations have been offered for the slow progress of women into engineering. In 1929, civil engineer Elsie Eaves, the first female member, senior member, and honorary member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, asserted, "There is no sex to engineering, but there are customs, habits, and organizations of long standing which are an initial handicap to women and require more than average ability if she is to succeed in overcoming these barriers." More than 60 years later in 1993 Betty Vetter, director of the Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology (formerly the Scientific Manpower Commission) observed, "Women have made considerable strides into the engineering workforce in the last decade, but the climate remains generally inhospitable in most employment situations."
While women are still less than 20% of engineering undergraduates, a recent study of over 75,000 engineering students at nine public universities by researchers at Purdue University found that once in engineering, women are just as likely as men to graduate with an engineering degree. However, an analysis of National Science Foundation data reported by the Society of Women Engineers found that women who earned bachelor's degrees in engineering in the mid-1980s were less likely than men to still be employed in engineering 20 years later. A 2005 survey of graduates of 21 engineering colleges conducted by the Society of Women Engineers found that while 71% of the male respondents believed that male and female employees performing the same jobs were treated equally where they worked, only 39% of the female respondents agreed.
The 2008 National Academies report Changing the Conversation: Messages for Improving Public Understanding of Engineering focuses on making engineering more attractive to the public in general and young women in particular by improving the image of engineering as a profession that directly impacts quality of life. The study found that taglines such as "Engineers make a world of difference" and "Engineering is essential to our health, happiness, and safety" resonated particularly well with girls. However, it is not enough to attract young women into the profession only to have them leave at mid-career.
We must continue to examine the engineering workplace for unconscious bias and "micro-inequities" that can have long term impacts on women's careers. While blatant discrimination is for the most part a thing of the past, "customs, habits, and organizations of long standing," as Elise Eaves put it, still inhibit women's progress. NSPE made a significant contribution to addressing such issues with the 1997 development of The Glass Ceiling video and accompanying training materials illustrating some of the less obvious challenges faced by women engineers. As leaders in the profession, NSPE members can continue to welcome women into engineering and strive to create workplaces in which all engineers can succeed.
NSPE member Peggy Layne, P.E., is director of AdvanceVT, a program to increase the number and success of women faculty in the sciences and engineering at Virginia Tech. She is a past president of the Society of Women Engineers and editor of Women in Engineering: Pioneers and Trailblazers and Women in Engineering: Professional Life, ASCE Press, 2009.