Women remain vastly under-represented in engineering, comprising only about twenty percent of degree recipients and employees in this economically lucrative and high-status field. This project examined the viewpoints and experiences of young women who are the exception to the gender norm and have chosen to study engineering, as they likely comprise the next generation of women engineers, and their views and experiences have potentially strong implications for the future of the field.

In collaboration with the Society for Women Engineers (SWE), the research team conducted a multi-year study, including collecting surveys from a racially diverse sample of almost 1000 young women who were members of SWE or SWENext (parallel organization for high school students), and conducting in-depth interviews for a period of three years with a smaller and select group of diverse respondents, following them as they transitioned from high school into college as engineering majors. As a mixed methods study, the project included both quantitative and qualitative data analysis.

 The project revealed several key findings. First, high school girls reported relatively high levels of support for pursuing this non-normative field from those around them (parents, teachers, friends), and direct experiences of bias and exclusion were relatively rare. That said, negative experiences were quite salient and powerful. Among high school respondents, young women reported much lower levels of support from their male peers compared to all other sources, and their interactions with male peers in engineering spaces were by far the most commonly cited source of discouragement; common themes that emerged in the data included boys taking credit for their ideas, taking physical ownership of the space and materials, and socially excluding them. At the college level, analysis focused on interactions with faculty, and found that negative experiences were relatively rare, but more common for non-binary respondents and those in the most male-dominated engineering majors. Further, there was a general pattern among respondents, such that hearing their professors make sexist comments in class and experiencing low support from their professors were associated with higher frequency of thoughts about leaving the major.

 Additionally, this project delved into how young women in engineering define their own gender in various ways. Results revealed that respondents on average viewed themselves as generally typical of women (referred to as typical femininity), and also typical of men (or masculine typicality).  Yet those who more strongly identified with masculine typicality also had stronger career intentions and stronger engineering identity, with the exception of Latinx respondents. Therefore, while there is some evidence of the benefits of aligning with masculine ideals for continued attachment to engineering, the results also point to the need to refrain from simple assumptions that gender beliefs and associated roles are consistent across racial/ethnic groups.

 Relatedly, the project also examined women college engineers’ beliefs about differences between men and women more broadly, and whether and how such beliefs are associated with their understandings of inequality in engineering. Specifically, gender essentialist beliefs, or beliefs that men and women comprise distinct and mutually exclusive gender groups characterized by different innate abilities and preferences, have been linked in previous research to support for gender segregation in the labor force and home, and lack of support for policies or initiatives to advance gender inequality. Analysis of data collected from women engineers in college revealed that while overall levels of endorsement of such beliefs were generally low, there was important variation. Specifically, those who identified as non-binary had very low levels of essentialist beliefs, and beliefs also varied by race and social class. Further, those who endorsed gender essentialists beliefs were more likely to view engineering as a pure meritocracy and to perceive women’s under-representation as a consequence of their own shortcomings. The results are consistent with the idea that gender essentialism performs a system justifying function, as people see no need for change if current patterns are perceived as the result of natural differences between men and women.

 Additionally, the project examined whether and how high school SWENext participants’ understandings of gender inequality have implications for their motivation to challenge inequality in the future. Analysis of in-depth interviews revealed that most respondents expressed systemic understandings of gender inequality, particularly Black respondents. Yet very few young women expressed motivation or confidence to challenge inequality or promote equality in their near futures; those who did were almost exclusively Black and Latinx respondents, while white respondents tended to express an individualistic strategy to navigate an unjust system and be personally successful. In sum, the results suggest that the racialized identities of young women in engineering likely shape not only for their awareness and understanding of inequality, but also their motivation to push for engineering to be a more equitable place for all.

Last Modified: 12/28/2023
Modified by: Catherine Riegle-Crumb