ENGINEERING A 'PINK COLLAR' PROFESSION? These Women at the Top Would Like More Women to Join Them
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| Audience/Grade: | High School Sophomore - Continuing Education |
| Discipline(s): |
Civil Engineering General Engineering, Engineering Science |
| Special Topic(s): |
Engineering Photo Competition |
| Learning Resource Type: | Reference - Article/Document |
| Media Type: | WWW |
| Author(s): | ASCE - American Society of Civil Engineers |
| Description: | Article hosted by ASCE. "Would it surprise you to learn that a soccer mom, a former teen beauty queen, a part-time genealogist and a minister are leading the nation's engineering profession? It should. For the first time ever, a majority of the top elected leaders representing every major engineering discipline are women - a feat unmatched even by the medical and legal professions. The presidents of four of the five oldest engineering societies that represent chemical, civil, electrical and mechanical engineering are women. Women are also at the helm of an additional seven engineering organizations representing ceramic, nuclear and automotive engineers. These women hold the offices of president, president-elect or immediate past president. This achievement is more surprising when you consider that most of these individuals are the first women elected to the post in the history of their organization - a history that dates back as far as 150 years! So have women shattered the glass ceiling and transformed engineering into a 'pink collar' profession? Hardly. While women represent at least half of all law and medical students, female engineering students number less than 20 percent. Worse, large numbers of women who initially choose engineering change majors before earning a degree. According to the 2000 U.S. Census Bureau, only 9.5 percent of civil engineers, 7.1 percent of mechanical engineers, 10.1 percent of electrical engineers, 11.5 percent of aerospace engineers, 16.3 percent of chemical engineers and 16.8 percent of industrial engineers are women. Furthermore, according to a survey from the National Science Foundation, women account for just 19.7 percent of enrollment in undergraduate engineering programs nationwide. While these statistics portray engineering as the last bastion of the all-boys club, engineering professional societies have provided women with highly-visible leadership roles that extend their influence beyond the walls of their workplace." |
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| Keywords: | women in civil engineering, women in engineering, ASCE, gender equity |
| Usage Tip | |
| Use of Resource: | Article with links to sites associated with ASCE and women in engineering. |
| Difficulty: | Easy |
| Interactivity Level: | Low |
| Version Info | |
| Publication Date: | 2008 |
| Platform/Format: | WWW |
| Cost: | Free |
| Download URL: | http://www.asce.org/pressroom/pinkcollar.cfm |
| Metadata: | IEEE LOM Record |
| Collection: |
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