Mystery of the Missing Women Engineers: A Solution

Abstract

Despite intensive recruiting efforts by engineering schools and professional societies, the number of women employed as engineers in the United States has never reached 10%. This failure is generally attributed to the fact that girls tend to shy away from math and science in high school. Recruiting efforts are therefore directed toward encouraging girls to study math and science, but these efforts are focused on the wrong problem. Some reasons for the scarcity of female engineers are: the general public's lack of understanding of what engineers do; a misguided emphasis on math and science, rather than problem solving, that makes girls think that engineering is not for them; and the poor image of the engineering profession. Efforts to recruit bright young people, male and female, into the engineering profession will be fruitful when they are focused on engineering, rather than its tools. This can be done by educating the public about what engineering really is and by making schoolchildren aware that being an engineer goes way beyond “doing math and science.”