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In this blog, EDN Editorial Director Maury Wright focuses on digital consumer-electronics gadgets and the converged networks that feed them with video, audio, and data. [Editor's note: As of Feb. 2008, this blog is no longer active and is presented here for archival purposes.]

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Thursday, October 18, 2007

Could females close the presumed engineer shortage in the US?

Oct 18 2007 9:43AM | Permalink |Comments (10) |

In all honesty, I still don’t have an opinion on whether we have a shortage of engineers in the US. I am constantly told that there are shortages in specific areas such as true analog experts. But overall, there are many engineers matriculating nationwide and even more on the global scale. In those US engineering programs, however, there remains a distinct imbalance between the number of males and females pursuing and engineering degree. I found a pair of dueling columns on that topic in a recent USA Today a very interesting read.

In the first column, “First, dispel all of the myths,” the author argued that despite the fact that 60% of the students earning degrees are female, that females aren’t as well represented in scientific fields. The author speculates that the shortage of female engineering students could hurt our competitiveness in technology on the global stage. And the author points out that traditional myths about why females don’t purse engineering and science just don’t hold up today.

The president of the National Organization of Women presented an opposing view entitles “End the discrimination.” This response lays all of the blame for a shortage of females pursuing engineering careers on discrimination. I just don’t know that I buy that answer. I deal with far too many competent female engineers on a regular basis within my own organization and within companies that I deal with daily. On the other hand, I don’t have an alternative answer for why more females don’t pursue what I consider an extremely rewarding career choice.

Reader Comments

at 10/18/2007 12:29:11 PM, Jonathan Williams said:
Because it doesn't interest them. I have three girls, ages 11, 13 and 17. And no matter what I've done to expose them to the joys of engineering, they are not interested. I don't harangue them, cajole them, or smoother them, but I do encourage them to attend the Bring Your Kid to Work Day at my company where they put on an excellent program for the kids. I also encourage them to consider robotics club at the high school, and other kid's engineering activities. My 15 yr old son however, has the knack. Now, if I could just get him interested in doing the work. He can be motivationally challenged which is a nice way of saying he is lazy. He'll wake up to it one day. I don't care what anybody has to say about it (learning environment, upbringing, etc.), kids are pre-wired at birth to have certain traits, skills and interests. You are either born with the knack, or you're not.

at 10/18/2007 1:19:44 PM, Floyd said:
When I reflect back to high school and my math and science classes the females often were able to earn better grades than their male classmates. In the past 45+ years in the electronics industry I have found female engineers equal to their male counterparts in solving problems. Perhaps society's perception of women and the perceived role of primarily being the home maker has made their entry into this male dominated career more difficult or not as attractive. I remember that most of the scholarships given out in my senior class went to the females...most of whom got married and dropped out of college before they finished their second year of college.

at 10/18/2007 1:54:07 PM, Rob said:
One of the issues often overlooked is that engineering is a field that constantly experiences change. Having to take out time to raise children takes one out of the field for a period of time, and risks becoming "stale". If child care were more readily available, and affordable, more women would be able to stay in the field

at 10/18/2007 2:03:47 PM, Mel W said:
Why is there such a focus on women in engineering? This has been promoted now for over two decades with the same results. In terms of numbers women do dominate (new grads) in fields of medicine, dentistry, law, pharmacy, administration and business. But do we really need to dwell on why this one white collar occupation doesn't have greater than or equal to 50% female occupation? Women haven't shown equal particpation in the pure sciences, military, home construction trades, computer software development, heavy industry or police forces. Maybe if we had the answer to why they shun some of these other occupations we'd have the answer to why they don't dominate engineering as well.

at 10/22/2007 1:13:16 AM, AMOGHVARSH NADKAR said:
Is it a matter of concern or something else I dont know.

I think we as a society needs to survey women and find out why they dont like engineering as much as they do like other proffessions.

Secondly a survey of women Engineers vs their Non Engineering women counterparts and their traits would perhaps give us an idea of this age old question, why women dont enjoy engineering?

Maybe engineering sounds less appealing.......

at 10/23/2007 4:47:15 PM, laid off said:
this just proves women are smarter. engineers are treated as a commodity. when the design is ready for manufacture, the design team is laid off. earliest I recall is the aerospace layoffs of 1969.

now, the new twist is to bring in H1B visa holders, since they work cheaper.

I'd be willing to work for half pay for the first 6 months, while I get up to speed on the technology being used. there are lots of us laid off guys with accomplishments and good work ethics that nobody wants to touch. the excuse is that we won't be productive on day one. well, what about on day 60, or 120.

by the way, my sisters (younger) were not at all interested in engineering.

at 11/7/2007 12:24:31 PM, Dallas reader said:
The one and only answer is women are not interested in the field, period. If a woman wants something, she gets it. Nothing will stop her. Engineering companies greatly want to hire females because it helps their "diversity numbers" and also they want to encourage more women into engineering. If you are a woman and want to be an engineer, it is yours for the taking. But most woman do not want to be an engineer. After after being married for 17 years, I know that it is so difficult to make a woman do something she doesn't want to do. So this issue is not every going to change.

at 2/12/2008 10:21:44 PM, Woman Engineer said:
If you want to know why anyone does or doesn''t choose to do something, why don''t you ask? If you are genuine about the asking, and can be trusted, you will probably get a genuine answer.

Of course, this is the problem. Most people will talk for hours to each other about someone or something that annoys or mystifies them, but will never get around to addressing the person or situation directly.

I got into it because I enjoy creating and inventing. I may leave the profession because I enjoy creating and inventing, and working with new technology. Most jobs out there don''t let you do that, sadly. And yes, engineers are treated like commodities. If you get good at it, yes, guaranteed, someone will try to take the credit or other benefit of what you have done away from you, if you let them. I don''t. But I''m still amazed at what I''ve seen people try to do.

I''m old enough to have put up with the crap that comes with being the first woman in an engineering department, and young enough to have half my career ahead of me. There you have it.

Our daughters are watching all of us.

at 2/17/2008 6:36:35 PM, Jeanne said:
I wanted to be a EE since high school. I graduated HS in 1978, but by 1980 I had been run off by the University Department chair who refused to sign my degree plan for my ROTC scholarship, because "women can't handle the program". After my military service, I became a math teacher instead. I returned to get a BSEE in 2002, and finished all but the final 8 classes with a gpa of 3.80. This was done mostly in night school, and while raising my two boys by myself. So what happened? I watched on as my brother an RF engineer got laid off and remained unemployed for over a year losing everything he had. At the schools where I worked, I saw too many unemployed engineers coming in as first year math teachers. I could have borrowed yet more money and finished that BSEE. I really loved the field. But, I was not willing to risk being one of those poor unemployed engineers who goes begging the school district for a shot a teaching inner city kids. I will always wish I could be an engineer, and sigh whistfully at the women who make it. I would give anything but job security to be an engineer. Don't pretend I don't want it. But somebody needs to raise the kids....their dead beat dad sure isn't going to help out. PS: he works in IT too... .just don't know where.
Do you suppose, that when I finally get my boys through college, (both want to be engineers), that I will be too old to bother with such a bold career change? I think I will be.

at 3/27/2009 11:04:00 AM, Female construction engineer said:
I am a female and could not decide what I wanted to do when I entered college. I decided on a major in biology, however, when I finished, I realized that I would more than likely be working in a lab, teaching or doing research. If I had known that these really were my only job possibilities I never would have entered the field. I did a lot of research on what other fields that I might enjoy. I never considered engineering because the first thought that popped into my head was construction and building sites. This really was never appealing. But, as I learned that engineers really are involved in the design process and implementing their design I started to become very interested. Now I am finishing a degree in construction engineering. I believe that females don''t have a grasp on all that they could do with a degree in engineering. They immediately disregard engineering as a field to go into because they do not fully understand what engineer actually do.

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