Women in Engineering

A national study conducted by Beede and colleagues (2011) from the Department of Commerce in the US indicated that women only make up 25% of those holding STEM positions, suggesting an underrepresentation of women in STEM-related fields. The underrepresentation of women in engineering is further supported by data from Yoder (2012), which indicated that women only make up 18% of those pursuing engineering undergraduate degrees and only around 20% of those pursuing postgraduate and doctoral degrees in 2011. With that in consideration, universities offering engineering degrees like Purdue and Georgia Technical have developed programs for women in engineering in order to retain women pursuing engineering by providing support and encouragement.

To better understand the issues related to women in engineering, recent research has been conducted to explore strategies of bridging the gender gap. In addition, gender diversity has also been an area of research, which may involve exploring factors regarding gender differences and factors that affect teaching and learning of engineering students who are women, the reasons of their career choice, their preferred learning styles, shift in career paths and disciplines.

References:

Beede, D., Julian, T., Langdon, D., McKittrick, G., & Khan, B. (2011). Issue Brief #04-11, Women in STEM: A gender gap to innovation. U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration. Retrieved from http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1964782
Burton, L., & Dowling, D. (2010, July). The effects of gender on the success of cohort of engineering students. Proceedings of the EE2010 International Conference on Innovation, Good Practice and Research in Engineering Education, Aston University, Birmingham, UK.
Faulkner, W. (2006). Genders in/of engineering. Retrieved from http://www.aog.ed.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/4862/FaulknerGendersinEngineeringreport.pdf

Georgia Technical University. (n.d.). Women in engineering. Retrieved from Retrieved from http://wie.gatech.edu/home

Hill, C., Corbett, C., & Rose, A. S. (2008). Where the girls are: The facts about gender equity in education. Retrieved from http://www.aauw.org/files/2013/02/Where-the-Girls-Are-The-Facts-About-Gender-Equity-in-Education.pdf

Hill, C., Corbett, C., & Rose, A. S. (2010). Why so few? Women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Retrieved from http://www.aauw.org/files/2013/02/Why-So-Few-Women-in-Science-Technology-Engineering-and-Mathematics.pdf

Johnson, P. A. (2013). The state of women in civil engineering in the US and the role of ASCE. Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice. Retrieved from http://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/(ASCE)EI.1943-5541.0000159

Kilgore, D., Chachra, D., Loshbaugh, H., McCain, J., Jones, M., & Yasuhara, K. (2007, June). Creative, contextual, and engaged: Are women the engineers of 2020. Paper presented at the 114^th ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Honolulu, Hawaii.

Purdue University. (n.d.). Women in engineering. Retrieved from https://engineering.purdue.edu/WIEP/AboutUs

Scutt, H. I., Gilmartin, S. K., & Sheppard, S. (2013). Research-informed practices for inclusive science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) classrooms: Strategies for educators to close the gender gap. Paper presented at the 120^th ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Atlanta, GA. Retrieved from https://www.stanford.edu/group/design_education/wikiupload/4/46/ASEE_2013_Scutt.pdf

Yoder, B. L. (2012). Engineering by the numbers. Retrieve from http://www.asee.org/papers-and-publications/publications/college-profiles/2011-profile-engineering-statistics.pdf