Women continue to be one of the most underrepresented demographics in engineering. Newark element14 looks at recent findings from the nation's biggest science and engineering institutions to try and understand why.
Learn more at www.imanengineer.com
2. Women continue to be one of the most
underrepresented demographics
in engineering.
86.4%13.6%
of employed engineers with
bachelor’s degrees are women
of employed engineers with
bachelor’s degrees are men
3. For advanced degrees, the gap continues.
18%
14%
of employed engineers with
master’s degrees are women
of employed engineers with
doctorate degrees are women
82%
86%
of employed engineers with
master’s degrees are men
of employed engineers with
doctorate degrees are men
4. Women are closing the gap, however, in a few
disciplines. Here are the top three engineering
professions with the most women:*
Civil Engineer
23,000
Electrical Engineer
20,000
Mechanical Engineer
14,000
*Excluding “other” engineers. Limited to holders of bachelors’ degrees.
5. And here are the bottom three professions with
the fewest employed women engineers:*
Chemical Engineer
10,000
Industrial Engineer
8,000
Aerospace Engineer
5,000
*Excluding “other” engineers. Limited to holders of bachelors’ degrees.
6. Of the 291,000 undergraduates to receive
engineering degrees in the last five years, only
60,000 (21%) were women.
7. Compare that to master’s
recipients. In the last five years...
22% of master’s recipients
were women
78% of master’s recipients
were men
29,000 gradutes 103,000 gradutes
8. Of the 110,800 women engineers
employed in universities...
...roughly 10% are deans,
department heads or chairs
9. The only area in which women engineers overwhelmingly
outnumbered male engineers is leaving the workforce
because of obligations at home.
Of the 992,000 engineers who left work for family
responsibilities, 86% were women.
10. Recent data reports the average median salary across all
engineering occupations, races and sexes is $90,000.
$82,000
median annual
salary of
full-time woman
engineer
$92,000
median annual
salary of
full-time male
engineer
11. This disparity continues into positions of leadership.
Of the 237,000 engineers who
are managers:
91%
216,000 are men
9%
21,000 are women
12. Sources:
Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System (SEST)
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics
National Science Foundation
National Survey of College Graduates
