Women in Engineering – Part One

Engineering may bring to mind images of number crunching nerds holed up in office cubicles, but that is a false image. Engineering encompasses a broad range of disciplines – including agricultural, biomedical, chemical, civil, electrical, environmental, industrial, mechanical, and nuclear, to name just a few. Engineers apply scientific and technical knowledge toward the design, development and operation of structures, machines, devices, materials, or processes.

Engineers are problem solvers and help to make the world a better place. Engineering is about making a difference, and helping to solve problems “that are important to society.” Engineering is as much about teamwork and working with people as it is about math and science. Engineering is about creativity. Engineers can be found in every state and every industry. They are employed by manufacturing industries, by professional, scientific, and technical service sectors, and by federal, state, and local governments.

Engineering is a rewarding field with many opportunities for growth and advancement. With our high-technology society, engineering and advanced technology careers are growing about four times faster than other occupations. These are careers in which women are under-represented – only about 10% of engineers are female.

A decline in engineering bachelor’s degrees is occurring when we need engineers more than ever. According to a survey released in June 2008 by the American Society for Engineering Education, engineering graduates are decreasing while at the same time demand for their skills is increasing. An increase in women obtaining engineering degrees can help to reverse this trend.

According to the survey, in 2006-2007, women earned 18.1% of bachelor degrees, 22.5% of masters degrees, and 20.8% of doctoral degrees in engineering. Most of the women’s degrees were concentrated in five disciplines. Following are the percentage of bachelor’s degrees earned by women in the five disciplines: environmental: 44.5%, biomedical: 38.2%, chemical: 36.3%, biological & agricultural: 32.6%, and industrial/manufacturing (30.9%). The disciplines in which women were least represented were computer (9.2-12.2%%), mechanical (12.1%), and electrical (12.4%). In addition, women received only 21.0% of civil engineering degrees.

There were 1.5 million engineering jobs in 2006, with over half of those positions (55.8%) held by civil, mechanical, industrial, and electrical engineers, which are the disciplines dominated by men. Civil engineering is the largest employment sector for engineers. The employment of civil engineers is projected to grow by 18%, faster than the average for all occupations. Industrial engineering is projected to grow faster than the average for all occupations, by 20%.

Engineering disciplines favored by women are among the smallest in terms of numbers employed, but are projected to be the fastest growing over the decade. Environmental, chemical, biomedical, and agricultural engineering disciplines contain less than 10% of the jobs (6.74%); however, biomedical and environmental engineers are expected to have much faster than average employment growth than for all other occupations: 21% for biomedical, and 25% for environmental. Agricultural (9%) and chemical (8%) are projected to grow about as fast as the average for all occupations. Materials engineering, with a projected 4% growth rate, is the only discipline favored by women to grow slower than the average for all occupations.

According to the federal United States Department of Labor, starting salaries for engineers are among the highest of all college graduates, and a bachelor’s degree is required for most entry level jobs. For the decade 2006-2016, the DOL projects that overall employment of engineers will increase by 11%, about as fast as the average for all occupations, with growth rates varying by discipline.

As the demand for engineers increases to keep technological societies going, we need to tap into the female gender, as women not only are half the population, but receive more bachelor’s (59%) and masters (61%) overall.

Koval Associates LLC

Author: Susan Koval
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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