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Introduction
Increasing the number of women studying engineering has been major
priority for decades. The benefits stemming from such increases are
many, including increased undergraduate student diversity, increased
numbers of women in graduate programs, increased numbers of women as
candidates for faculty positions and accommodation of the interests of
employers seeking a more diverse workforce.
Engineering Trends has analyzed degrees and enrollments (total full-time
and first-year) for women in engineering as a whole and in ten major
engineering disciplines. These data, beginning in AY1970-71 provide a
means for assessing the increases in women students over the past three
decades, defining the current situation and predicting future trends.
Undergraduate Enrollments and Degrees Awarded to Women in Engineering
The graph below shows the growth in undergraduate degrees awarded to
women over the past three decades. The maxima in enrollments and degrees
in the early 1980s coincide with the maxima in engineering as a whole
during this period. It is clear that continual progress has been made in increasing the number of degrees awarded to women.
The very recent declines in the enrollments (total full-time and
first-year) shown in the graph above give cause for concern in that they
have occurred during years of substantial growth of total engineering
degrees and enrollments. The graph below of the relative degrees and
enrollments for women shows that the fraction of women in their first
year of engineering study reached a maximum in Fall 1995. Total
full-time enrollments reached a maximum in Fall 1998. The declines in
relative enrollments following these maxima have been substantial. The
relative numbers of degrees reached a maximum in Fall 1999; very slow
declines followed.
As an aside, it is noteworthy that relative enrollments of women
reached maxima in the early 1980s at a time when overall engineering
enrollments reached maxima. Thus, during this period the enthusiasm of
women for the study of engineering was higher than in the following six
or seven years.
The troublesome enrollment data shown in the two graphs above come at a
time when total undergraduate degrees are approaching a maximum.
Engineering Trends predicts that the maximum will occur in AY2006-07
(possibly AY2005-06) and the number of degrees should decline for at
least five years thereafter. If the fraction of women continues to
decline during a period where the total number of degrees declines, the
number of women awarded engineering degrees will suffer significantly.
Degrees Awarded in Selected Engineering Disciplines
Considerable differences exist among the various engineering disciplines
in the number of degrees awarded to women. Data for aerospace,
biological (biomedical and bioengineering), chemical, computer
(including science), civil, electrical (including electronic),
environmental, industrial (excluding management and manufacturing),
mechanical and materials (including metallurgical and welding)
engineering were selected for this study and are shown in the graph
below.
Electrical, computer and biological data show very high growth rates
in recent years while mechanical and aerospace degrees have grown more
slowly. Only chemical engineering data exhibit significant declines.
Clearly, the trends for engineering as a whole shown previously are not
descriptive of the individual engineering disciplines.
The relative number of degrees awarded to women in these ten disciplines
(fractions of the total numbers of degrees awarded in the individual
disciplines) is shown in the graph below. Half of the disciplines
studied (biological, environmental, chemical, industrial and materials)
continue to grow significantly and now award more than 30% of their
degrees to women. Biological and environmental degrees are nearing the 50% level.
The remaining five disciplines (aerospace, civil, computer, electrical
and mechanical engineering) have relative degrees of between 14 and 22%.
Further, their relative degree fractions have not varied in recent
years. More importantly, these five disciplines awarded 75% of the
undergraduate engineering degrees in AY2003-04.
Women interested in studying and embarking upon a career in engineering
have shown strong and growing interest in various engineering
disciplines. The favored disciplines are among the smaller ones in terms
of bachelor's degrees awarded. Thus, the interest of women in studying
engineering should not be assessed by the statistical data for
engineering as a whole. Rather, the interests of women in studying
engineering should be judged on their responses to engineering
disciplines that they find to be attractive.
The attraction of women to five of the engineering disciplines studied
would appear open for comment. It should be expected that their choices
would be based in part upon courses of study in the K-12 education
system. A favorable impression of some science courses (namely biology
and chemistry) would account for preferences of biological, chemical and
environmental disciplines. "Materials" could appear to be chemical in
content and the importance of microstructural analysis may relate to
favorable impressions from biology classes. Might it be that women
planning for engineering study are attracted to disciplines that appear
to be chemistry- and/or biology-oriented? In addition, it might follow
that women find a poor linkage between K-12 courses and other
engineering disciplines.
The goal of increasing the number of undergraduate engineering degrees
awarded to women can only be reached by enhancing the aspects of
engineering that are appealing to the career decisions of women and by
understanding the characteristics of engineering disciplines that are
not attractive to women. Engineering Trends strongly encourages the
implementation of a broad, properly designed study to provide factual
information upon which future courses of action may proceed,
Enrollments Provide Definition of Future Discipline Trends
Total undergraduate full-time and first-year enrollments of women in the
ten engineering disciplines are shown in the following two graphs. The
precipitous decline in computer
enrollments follows the national trend in this discipline. In terms of
full-time enrollment, only
mechanical, civil, biological and aerospace data show increases in
recent years. However, these increases are severely muted or negated by
first-year data. Thus, for only a few disciplines, degree growth may
continue, but for only a few years. However, growth in the number of undergraduate degrees
awarded to women in any engineering discipline should not be anticipated
after AY2006-07 based upon first-year enrollment data available through
Fall 2003.
Relative enrollments in the ten engineering disciplines studied have
declined in recent years during the period of overall engineering
enrollment growth. Both total full-time and first-year relative
enrollments are declining as shown in the two graphs below. Declines in
the disciplines that have been found to be most attractive to women in
recent years is certainly noteworthy. The magnitudes of the relative
enrollment declines vary among the ten disciplines studied. However,
future growth in the number undergraduate degrees awarded to women in
any of these ten disciplines should not be anticipated. Declines in
degrees awarded to women will be intensified when the period of
declining overall engineering degrees begins in a couple of years.
Summary
Growth in the number of undergraduate engineering degrees awarded to
women over the past three decades has been substantial. In AY2003-04,
the fraction of women obtaining degrees in the individual engineering
disciplines ranged from 14 to 46%, indicating that women have strong
preferences for specific engineering fields.
Enrollment trends, some initiated almost a decade ago, indicate that
declines in undergraduate degrees awarded to women will begin in the
very near future in almost all engineering disciplines. These declines
will be accentuated by the declines in the total numbers of
undergraduate degrees that will occur following the maximum expected in
AY2006-07, if not sooner.
Acknowledgments
The undergraduate degree and enrollment data used in this study
originated from the annual surveys of the Engineering Workforce
Commission of the American Association of Engineering Societies.
Engineering Trends acknowledges the efforts of this organization in
providing credible data and expresses its gratitude for their services
to the engineering profession. Persons seeking further information about
their surveys and the availability of survey data should visit the AAES/EWC
Web site (www.aaes.org).
Footnotes
Engineering Trends data are compiled mainly from information submitted
by universities to the annual surveys of EWC and ASEE. On the very rare
occasions where errors in data appear, Engineering Trends corrects the
error, if possible, or deletes the data if the error is large enough to
alter significantly the trend of the university or the US total.
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