Improving Female Retention Rates Of Engineering Students

Additionally, as a female engineer, I am in the minority in the workplace and affected by the patriarchal system. Only 15% of women hold positions in male-dominated fields such as engineering

Although the recent upward trends in the number of women in STEM fields are promising, they are not truly due to decreasing cultural stereotypes. Women receiving graduate degrees in engineering increased by 2 percent from 2000 to 2008, but this trend is not as hopeful as it may seem (Giges). This increase was mainly evident in communal fields like environmental or biomedical engineering (Giges). This is further evidence of the impact of cultural stereotypes and their influence on women’s career paths. Society’s expectation of women is that they serve as caring motherly figures and community-centered careers adhere

In a speech in February 2013 President Barak Obama said, “One of the things that I really strongly believe in is that we need to have more girls interested in math, science, and engineering. We’ve got half the population that is way underrepresented in those fields and that means that we’ve got a whole bunch of talent…not being encouraged the way they need to.” It been three years since President Obama has made that statement and the underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering and math as known as STEM majors is still a big problem today. The STEM workforce is crucial to Americas global competitiveness and groundbreaking capability. The people who work in the STEM field make up nearly half of the United

Education is a huge factor affecting women's job placement. From a young age, gender role expectations are taught to students through books, televisions, advertisements, and adult social interactions (Etaugh & Liss 129-130). These gender role expectations are extremely institutionalized but currently, women have made strides to have a greater representation at the college level. The percentage of women (68%) between the ages of 18 to 24 enrolled in college, exceeds that of men, which is 66% since 1990 (Parrillo 441). Even amongst minority groups, women have a larger presence on college campuses. Even though women are not the minority in college, they are still minorities in the science majors and overrepresented in majors required for more

In his article, “Does Gender Matter?”, Ben A. Barres writes about the apparent absence of women in the science, technology, engineering, and math fields. He starts out the article by informing the reader about a few of the hypotheses that aim to explain this difference in presence, hypotheses that Barres aims to disprove. Barres explains, and at a few points depicts with charts and graphs, the significance of the gap between the amount of white men in the STEM majors and fields of studies and the amount of women and minorities in these same areas. He tell the readers the misconceptions such as the idea that women are inferior in these fields are untrue, and the fact is that woman and minorities are discouraged from entering into these areas

Throughout the years, males have dominated the academic disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) with very few females finding their way in the mix (Steinberg, Okun, & Aiken, 2012). Those females enrolling in the STEM majors soon find themselves questioning why they have, and many quickly change their majors to more female-accepting professions (Steele, James, & Barnett, 2002). The view that women lack the intellect to succeeded in STEM disciplines has been a prevailing one for much of history (Cadinu, Maass, Rosabianca, & Kiesner, 2005). Many researchers have questioned whether it is social stigma impeding female success or indeed basic biological differences that make males are more successful

One of the main reasons there is a lack of women in STEM fields is the fact that they are leaving their jobs voluntarily at a staggering rate. A study by the Center for Talent Innovation found that 80% of women in the U.S. STEM jobs say they love their jobs, but 27% of those same women said that they feel stalled and are going nowhere professionally. Because of their inability to see a bright

Name Professor Course Date Women are not limited to any jobs in the world and if there is any limitation, it is them that are putting the barrier .The issue of certain jobs for certain gender is a stereotype that ought to be done away with by all means possible. For such a long time, women have been viewed as the weak gender and it becomes an issue when they are seen in certain practicing fields. Among these fields is the field of engineering. This field has registered fewer numbers of women than men.

Stereotypes that are being used for women that particularly major in engineering are that women do not have the same capability as man’s to handle this kind of job and also that this is shown as a men traditional job not for women. Mark Crawford in Engineering Still Needs More Women,

The Census Bureau's 2009 American Community Survey displays that women comprise 48 percent of the U.S. workforce but just 24 percent of workers in STEM fields. Half as many women work in STEM jobs as would be expected if gender representation in STEM professions mirrored the overall workforce. This underrepresentation has remained fairly

Engineering is a field dominated by men in today's society, for many reasons. When people think about engineering they think about men with glasses and never does a women come to mind. However, there have been many studies on the skills that keep women out of engineering as a career yet there is no proof that women cannot or do not possess the skills needed to be a successful engineer. Therefore, it is thought and stereotyped that women do not have the skills to have an engineering career. Due to the studies and stereotypes the questions then arise as to what makes a good engineer. Many have the same response to the question but not one skill can a women not posses. Women are stereotyped as being dumb just because they are pretty. If a

Actually, today’s engineering profession takes gender diversity in college very seriously. In early 1970, Georgia Tech and Caltech both had zero female undergraduates, but “in 2011, Georgia Tech led the nation in granting engineering bachelor’s degrees to women, and in Caltech, women comprised around 40 percent of undergraduate enrollment.” Amy Bix, who is the author of “Girls Coming to Tech!: A History of American Engineering Education for Women”, tries to from a historical perspective, provide evidence that higher education has already started to open their arms to women. It’s not only the higher education institutions that are promoting systematic support for female engineering students, such as learning-community programs and extracurricular support. Some industry leaders also started trying to find ways to inspire girls to notice the beauty of tech at a young age. Bill Gates and Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg back the nonprofit coding education site Code.org to encourage and teach more American children – especially girls – to learn Computer Science. Even Victoria Secret Supermodel Karlie Kloss has joined the growing list of encouraging young women to take up computer coding. By calling them to apply for “Kode with Karlie Scholarship,” she explained the reason specifically for the girls, about why she offers this precious opportunity, “I think it’s crucial that young women learn to code as early as possible to

Women have come a long way since society suppressed and undermined the rights for women to obtain a job and education. It was not until the 1920s that women had the right to vote, and it was not until later that women had the opportunity of employment and earn equal pay as men. The battle that women have faced and are still facing today has allowed them to obtain an education and acquire careers alongside men. Although granted these opportunities, women still face problems and are underrepresented in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields currently. According to U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics (2011), only 34% of women are employed as physicians and surgeons and 14% are architects and engineers. However,

This literature review focuses on the available literature about the barriers for women going into engineering leading to the underrepresentation of women in engineering. “Only 8% of British engineers are women, the lowest proportion in Europe, and well behind Germany (15%), Sweden (25%) and top-performing Latvia (30%)” (Rankin, 2014). Over the last few years, women in engineering has become a major research topic, though a large majority of the research available focuses on STEM (Science, Engineering, Technology and Mathematics) as a whole. This review will mainly be focusing on the barriers of beliefs about intelligence and cognitive abilities, self-assessment, and discrimination by stereotyping.

areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics employers are not getting enough women (Pozniak). High school girls only represent 17 percent of computer science Advance Placement (AP) test takers (O'Shea). The most significant group of minorities who are behind in earning computer technology degrees and working in science and mathematical professions are women. “Historically, women’s low representation in science and engineering was said to be due in large part of their lack of ability, interest, or both” (Horning 30). However, this is no longer a true fact according to Ward. Some suggestions to increasing the amount of women in sciences include introducing already present women faculty as mentors. Over the last three decades,