Women’s Participation in Engineering between 2011 - 2019
Abstract
Despite much effort by engineering education scholarships to make engineering more inclusive, women are still underrepresented in engineering. Women earn less than 30% of the bachelor’s degrees in engineering. However, when we examine the intersectionality between gender and race/ethnicity, the lack of representation in certain groups of women tells us that some women are more underrepresented than others. There is no question barriers within and outside educational forums still prevent women, and in particular women of color, from entering the world of engineering. The barriers include poor advising, lack of mathematics preparation, poor pedagogy, a difficult curriculum, lack of preparation, an unwelcoming culture for women and minorities, and lack of mentorship. The more systemic barriers include the history of exclusion of women from engineering until the 1970s, and past and present systemic racism in United States education which has influenced the experiences of women across different racial and ethnic groups in engineering.
Women earn less than 30% of the bachelor’s degrees in engineering. From 2011 to 2019, the percentage of women who earned a bachelor’s degree increased by 6% from 20.4% in 2011. Therefore, in 2019, women represented 50.8% of the U.S. population, but only 26.4% of the engineering bachelor’s degree holders. Moreover, not all ethnic and racial groups of women experienced an increase in degree attainment. Within this period, American Indian or Alaska Natives have experienced a slight decrease, while Asians, African Americans, Hispanics, and White women have experienced increases in varying degrees. White women have experienced the most gains in bachelor’s degrees, but all categories of women, except for Asian, represented a lower percentage of engineering bachelor’s degree holders compared to their percentage representation within the U.S. population.
Fortunately, much is known about factors that make women leave engineering. More effort is needed to remove these know barriers to make engineering more inclusive and to allow more women to successfully complete their engineering bachelor’s degrees.
