First-year enrollments of women in engineering reached a maximum in fall 2000 and full-time bachelor's enrollments reached a maximum in fall 2002. Full-time master's degree enrollments reached a maximum in fall 2003. Doctoral enrollments continue to increase, but by only 3.2% in fall 2005.

This report addresses the effects of these enrollment trends on the numbers of degrees awarded to women in engineering and nine individual engineering disciplines.

Engineering Degrees Awarded to Women

Engineering bachelor's degrees awarded to women continue to decrease following the maximum reached in AY2003-04, as shown in the graph below. A maximum in master's degrees occurred in AY2004-05; a decline of 6.4% followed.

Doctoral degrees awarded to women continue to increase. However, the recent decline in the growth of full-time doctoral enrollment of women appears to indicate that doctoral degrees may be poised for a decline in the near future.

The fractions of engineering degrees awarded to women since AY1980-81 are shown in the three graphs below. The graphs include the fractions of engineering degrees awarded to women in ethnic groups and foreign national students.

The graph above indicates that the fraction of bachelor's degrees awarded to women has been decreasing slowly since the late 1990s. Declines in bachelor's degrees to African, Hispanic and Native American women are also apparent. Only the fraction of bachelor's degrees awarded to foreign national women has exhibited a long-term growth trend.

For master's degrees, the fractions awarded to women have been increasing slowly over the past five years. During this period, the fraction for Asian Americans increased slowly while the fraction for African Americans decreased. Little change has taken place in the trends for Hispanic and Native American fractions in recent years. The foreign national fractions have been essentially the same as those of overall engineering for almost a decade.

The long-term increase in the fraction of women awarded doctoral degrees in engineering disciplines continues as shown in the second graph below. The stasis that appeared several years ago has not continued in the last two years and significant growth is apparent. In spite of significant "small sample statistical scatter", growth in the fractions of doctoral degrees awarded to African and Hispanic American women are increasing. The fraction of doctorates awarded to Asian American women appears to be undergoing long-term decline. The doctoral degree data for Native American women is not shown due to extreme statistical scatter.

It is noteworthy that the fractions of degrees awarded to African, Hispanic, Native and Asian American women have the same rankings at all three academic levels and all groups except Asian Americans exceed the "all degrees" fractions.

Comparison of US Citizen and Foreign National Degree Fractions

Substantial efforts have been underway for many years to increase the number of women entering the engineering workforce. A comparison of the fraction of women who are US citizens receiving engineering degrees to the fraction of women in the foreign national population of US engineering colleges who are awarded degrees is presented below.

The graph shown below shows that the fractions of bachelor's degrees awarded to women for both groups grew significantly through the AY1999-00. Since then, the fraction of degrees awarded to US citizens has decreased slightly (down 1.7% through AY2005-06) and the fraction for foreign nationals has increased slightly (up 2.7% through AY2005-06). The difference between the two groups from AY1999-00 through AY2005-06 has never exceeded 2.3%; the average difference has been only 1.4%. Considering the scatter in the data, the fraction of bachelor's degrees awarded to women who are US citizens has been essentially the same as that for foreign national women for the last seven years.

The fraction of master's degrees awarded to foreign national women increased more rapidly than that for US citizen women through the 1990s. Since AY1999-00, these fractions have been the same and both have remained constant.

For doctoral degrees, the fraction awarded to US citizens continues to be greater than that for foreign nationals. However, the difference has been decreasing annually (7.1% in AY1989-90 to 3.5% in AY2005-06). It is also noteworthy that the general trends in doctoral degrees for these two groups are similar.

The continuing convergence of the fractions of degrees awarded to these two groups at all three academic levels is difficult to understand. The six data points for AY1989-90 in the graph above ranged from 5.5% to 16.5%; for AY2005-06, the range is only from 18.3% to 22.7%.

The comparisons made above seem to indicate that the factors that control the fraction of degrees awarded to women by US engineering colleges are independent of the nationalities of the students and thus their upbringing prior to enrollment in a US university. In light of the similarity in the foreign national and US citizen fractions, it is difficult to understand the existence of such a broad range of fractions among the various US citizen ethnic groups.

Degrees Awarded to Women in Individual Engineering Disciplines

Nine engineering disciplines (aerospace, biological (including biomedical), chemical, civil, computer (including computer science "inside" and "outside" the engineering colleges surveyed), electrical, industrial, materials (science and engineering) and mechanical) were included in this study. The next three graphs compare the fractions of degrees awarded to women in these disciplines to the fractions in engineering as a whole.

The fractions of bachelor's degrees awarded to women in the nine disciplines currently range from 13% to 42%. The largest fractions in AY2005-06 were for biological, chemical, industrial and materials engineering; the smallest were for computer, electrical and mechanical engineering. Evidence of the slow decline in the fraction of engineering bachelor's degrees awarded to women since AY1999-00 can be observed in each of the nine disciplines studied.

The fractions of master's degrees awarded to women currently range from 14% to 40%. The largest is for biological engineering. The fractions for chemical, civil, industrial and materials are somewhat greater than overall engineering; aerospace, electrical and mechanical engineering fractions are lower. The substantial declining trend for master's degree fractions in computer engineering that began in AY2001-02 continues. The other eight disciplines generally mirror the slow growth master's degree fraction trends of engineering as a whole.

Fractions of doctoral degrees awarded to women currently range from 13% to 34%. Biological, chemical, industrial and materials engineering fractions exceed that of "all engineering"; aerospace, electrical and mechanical engineering fractions are significantly lower. Some of the disciplines are currently increasing in the fractions of doctorates awarded to women; none of them show a declining trend at the present time.

Summary

Engineering bachelor's degrees awarded to women declined in both AY2004-05 and AY2005-06 and master's degrees declined in AY2005-06. Enrollments indicate that these declining trends will continue. Although the numbers of doctoral degrees awarded to women have continued to increase, the limited increase in the doctoral enrollment of women (2.3%) in fall 2005 indicates that the increasing degree trend will end in just a few years.

Fractions of bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees awarded to African, Hispanic and Native American women continue to exceed those of engineering as a whole.

It is noteworthy that, since AY1999-00, the fractions of bachelor's and master's degrees awarded to foreign national women have been essentially the same as for women who are US citizens. For AY2005-06, the fractions of degrees (bachelor's, master's and doctoral) awarded to foreign national women and to women who are US citizens are all (six values) in the range from 18.3% to 22.7%. It would appear that the factors limiting the growth of engineering degrees awarded to women are independent of the country of residence prior to enrollment in a US engineering college. This similarity complicates any explanation of the wide range of fractions of degrees awarded to women in various ethnic groups who are US citizens.

The fractions of degrees in biological, chemical, industrial and materials engineering awarded to women exceed those for overall engineering for all three academic levels. The fractions for aerospace, electrical and mechanical engineering are significantly lower than engineering at all academic levels. For the most part, the current trends for disciplines closely match those of engineering. The main exception is the fraction of computer engineering master's degrees awarded to women; the substantial decline that began in AY2001-02 has continued.

Acknowledgments

The degree 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 EWC Web site (www.aaes.org).

Footnote

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.