May 7, 2003
A: FROM MENTOR SUZANNE FRANKS IN KS
Unlike your other respondents, I am going to say yes - but also no!
Here's why. I think that most women who are currently in engineering
chose it for a variety of reasons, personal interest being a main one, and they
do whatever within engineering seems most appealing to them. Most of the young women
I knew at Kansas State University in engineering were drawn to their fields for a
variety of reasons - one loved working on cars, and picked mechanical engineering;
another was fascinated with preservation of hold houses and picked architectural
engineering; yet another was interested in making conditions better for workers in
manufacturing plants and picked industrial engineering. However - I think a lot of young women who decide that they AREN'T interested in engineering, make that decision in part
because they wrongly believe that engineering does not include service and/or does not allow
them to address social issues. Think of the examples I just gave - every one of
them relates to service or social issues. (and if you don't think good design of
efficient cars is a social issue, then just think again about how many cars we have in this
car-loving country, and the price of gas!)
As to where the women are - unlike most of your other respondents, the data I am familar
with says that women are far more prevalent in any field of engineering
that has the words biomedical, biological, biochemical, or environmental associated with it.
Enrollment in school and workforce participation in chemical engineering is also high.
The fields with the lowest percentage of women are mechanical, electrical, computer science, and areas of civil engineering that do not relate to environmental engineering.
Industrial engineering is also high in women, but mostly in industrial systems and less so in
manufacturing engineering.
Architectural engineering has a high percentage of engineering, but
construction science and management does not.
Sometimes, peoples' perception of a field may
make them more or less interested in it. I think if more young women were aware that
service to society and meeting social needs is an essential component of ALL engineering, more young women would at least consider it as a major. Because, afterall, that's what
engineering is all about - making the world work better, be more convenient, safer, more efficient, more fun, more flexible, for us human beings in our daily lives!
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May 1, 2003
A: FROM MENTOR BARB KONTOGIANNIS IN CO
I would not agree that most women prefer engineering for service or
social issues (if you are defining service/social with a medical field, for
example). I work on rockets in the aerospace industry, and I know women in
construction, oil and gas, computer science, automotive, and other
non-service/social industries. Personal preference plays a big part in
which field you choose. I would agree however, that there are typically
fewer women in more industrial type fields (like construction or oil and
gas) but I don't see a preference toward service/social issues. Of all the
women engineers I know, I probably know the fewest in the medical field.
Here's a twist for you - the category of service/social issues could really
be extended to every field of engineering. Engineers in construction, oil
and gas, automotive, environmental, and even aerospace, all provide a
service and address social issues in some way.
I hope that you will hear other perspectives on your question - it's a good
one.
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A: FROM MENTOR CAROL TOMAN IN IL
I do not agree that women are attracted to engineering primarily for
social or service reasons. I am personally fascinated with computer
science because it presents a series of puzzles to be solved,
preferably in clever and unique ways. I find that most of the women
in CS say similar things. While most people would say that they hope
their work would benefit humanity, it's just not one of the direct,
driving forces that keeps us working in our fields. There is an
interesting article written by a woman CS professor in California that
addresses your question much more eloquently that I can. Her College
is an evangelical Christian school so her argument is framed with
Biblical references, but her point of view stands up well on a purely
secular foundation as well. I hope you enjoy the article.
http://homepage.westmont.edu/~kimkihls/womenincs.pdf
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A: FROM MENTOR NATALIE GIVANS IN VA
I don't think that most females prefer engineering for service or social
issues, nor that most female engineers are in the medical area; however,
I don't have the statistics to back up my assertion. From experience in
electrical engineering and computer science, most female engineers I
know are in the same fields and in the same proportions across these
fields as male engineers that I know. I, myself, love the idea of
solving a world problem on the environment and/or health care, but for
right now (and for the past 19 years), I'm focused on information and
computer security, which helps society as a whole, our economic strength
as a nation, and our national security posture in general. My
experience is limited to information technology, aerospace, and systems
engineering across civil, defense and intelligence communities - I do
not have as much exposure to chemical engineers, civil engineers, nor
mechanical engineers to be able to say with certainty what female
engineers choose to do.