Running head: BREAKING BARRIERS

Women Breaking Barriers in Engineering

Renata Lpez
The University of Texas at El Paso

1302 RWS
Paul Vierra
October 16, 2015

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Abstract

Discrimination against women in the engineering profession exists in the form of sexism
and bias and has been documented by several authors whose works, within the nation, are
supported by national statistics. Whether this is changing in latest times for the specific
engineering profession or for any professional women is yet to be confirmed by new studies.
Institutions are working in educating women and scholars in general to be aware of such
issue and it is expected that both men and women change their attitudes against women
discrimination. Awareness together with the scarcity of engineers in the industry are changing
perception of working women in the profession.

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Introduction

Medicine and law, careers that were thought to be for men, have achieved a balanced
proportion of men and female in the field, but engineering is still dominated mostly by middleclass men (Dempsey, 2015, para. 5). For one reason or another women are not enrolling in
engineering as much as men are. Women make up roughly nineteen percent of engineers while
men the remaining eighty-one percent (Aguirre-Covarrubias, 2013, 4). Because there are so few
women in engineering it is said that females are underrepresented in the field, and that their
perspective is not taken into account.
Although women have been part of the engineering community for several decades now,
their numbers from then and now remain approximately the same. Individuals, universities and
some workplaces have tried to encourage more women to enter the engineering field, but their
efforts have not been as successful as they would have hoped for and the number of females in
engineering remains low. The following questions will help to provide a better understanding of
this issue:

Does bias and sexism still exist in engineering?

How does discrimination impact women in the engineering field?

How can discrimination in engineering be reduced?

Why does UTEP graduate high numbers of female engineers?

The following questions are the guidelines for the literature review that will provide information
regarding discrimination in engineering, its impact towards women in the field, varying solutions
on reducing discrimination in engineering, and background information of UTEP and, women
and engineering.
Does bias and sexism still exist in engineering?

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Discrimination in engineering against women arose because engineering was seen as a

male career, and society felt that women did not belong in the field. Sexism and bias was a keen
issue in engineering and one of the main reasons why women chose a different career path.
According to Mills (2011), discrimination has reduced and women engineers experiences have
improved since the 1990s (141). But the question remains whether the reason why females are
not enrolling in engineering is due to discrimination.
Bias and sexism still exists in engineering, while others claim that discrimination is no
longer an issue. According to Prives (2015), bias, sexism, and inequity are still in existence and
these are the causes for the low number of women enrolled in engineering (para. 1). Agreeing
with Prives, Schwartz (2015) states that although there are more women enrolled in engineering,
many do not pursue leadership roles because of the bias and inequity women face (1-2).
Schwartzs journal establishes the existence of the pipeline, he assures that women are forced
out of STEM careers due to unwelcomed, bias, and sexist moments (para.1). AguirreCovarrubias (2013) claims that over the years, women enrollment in STEM fields has remained
the same (1). The National Research Council (2006) examined that women engineers are likely
to be paid less than men engineers (VII). The Council does not give reasons for the unequal pay
between men and women engineers. On the other hand, Mills (2011) believes that the issue of
women in engineering has un-popularized because society believes that it is no longer an issue. It
is said that women are treated fairly and equally compared to men (para. 1). An interview with
Cid Lpez, an Industrial Engineer graduated from Tecnolgico de Monterrey at Chihuahua,
Chihuahua, Mxico and manager at Cardinal Health, was conducted to obtain an insight and
different perspective into the issue of women in engineering. Lpez agrees that women are
underrepresented in the engineering field; he explained that when he studied engineering from

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twenty students in the class, about two or three were female. Although women were the minority,
Lpez states that he did not feel that the professors or classmates treated those women unfairly.
At Cardinal Health, Lpez works with other engineers, where from fifteen engineers, three of
them are women. Here again Lpez explains that the women engineers he and his coworkers
work with are treated fairly, job opportunities, such as raise, are the same for women as for men.
Lpez does point out that he treats women and men differently when an error is committed. He
states that he treats women with more sensibility in order to not hurt their feelings. Lpez
states that he is aware that women engineers pay is less than that of a man. But explains that the
main reason for this is because, for the most part, women graduate with their engineering degree,
work for a few years before taking a leave to raise kids. When women come back into the field
they are less experienced than those men who stayed in the workforce while women were out
raising a family. Therefore womens pay is averagely less because they are not as work
experienced as their male counterparts. Lpez does not deny that discrimination may still be
persistent in other workplaces where discrimination is not greatly discouraged as in Cardinal
Health, but claims that sexism and bias in engineering is no longer as great of an issue as it was
fifty years ago.
How does discrimination impact women in the engineering field?
The first women entering the engineering field had several characteristics in common:
they had a strong character, they were persistent, had self-confidence, and high expectations
(Mills, 2011, 142). According to The National Research Council (2006), women engineers now a
days are less confident, have low success expectations, and show less interest (40).
Because it is known that women may face bias and sexism in engineering, some women
who have an interest for engineering do not enroll in the field to avoid such. Some of those who

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do enter engineering feel insecure and are morel likely to change majors (Mills, Franzway, &
Sharp, 2006, para. 1). As well as The National Research Council, the NSF Advance Institutional
Transformation for Faculty Diversity reports that women enter graduate engineering programs
with low self-esteem (6). In her TEDx talk, Sterling (2013) recounted a personal experience
where she was humiliated in front of her classmates by a professor, this, she believed was
discrimination against her due to her sex (7:50). Others, such as The Achievement Gap (2010)
claims that women are targeted, and marginalized in the workplace (para. 8-9). Women
reported to being taken less seriously than their male counterparts (Schiebinger, 1999, 51).
Schiebinger goes as far as to state that in some cases the division between the sexes was
deepened when a woman notified she was being harassed or experienced harassment by a male
colleague (52). Although efforts by women have been made to be part of the science and
engineering fields, they keep falling short in positioning themselves in major science and
engineering roles (The National Academic Press, 2006, 1). This may be because about one third
of women engineers were pressured into dead end feminine roles like getting coffee and about
half claimed that they experienced a negative reaction from their colleagues when they portrayed
confidence in meetings (Schwarts, 2015, para. 6).
These in general might be some of the reasons why women either change majors or do
not enroll in an engineering career at all.
How can discrimination in engineering against women be reduced?
In general evolution of society and circumstances in the industry are to change the
perception of women working in the engineering field. The older male generations of engineers
who may have been more likely to discriminate women in engineering roles due to culture are
now retiring and new generations with different perceptions are assuming the open positions in

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the industry. In some cases we even see women assuming those roles traditionally assigned to
males. Also the increase in demand for engineers due to growth in the industry is more likely to
hire women due to a shortage of engineers in general (Tunnicliffe, 2012, para. 5). The role of
women engineer associations in schools and in the industry has to increase in order to
disseminate role models among women to help make women more secure of themselves when
entering or about to enter an engineering field.
The main obstacle women in engineering face is culture. Culture can be defined as the
beliefs and traditions of a group of people. Changing the culture of engineering can reduce
discrimination in the engineering field, while increasing engineering role models can help attract
more women into engineering. The documentary by De Michiel (2005) explains that individuals
should not take in the guidelines of society without first questioning what they are (12:22). The
only way women have been able to change the perceptions of women in engineering little by
little has been because some women challenged the culture and fought for the wanted changes,
which were to favor women in science and related fields (Schiebinger, 1999, 1). These women
served as role models for other women who had an interest in science and engineering careers.
According to Curran (2014), female role models would help as an inspiration and as a source of
encouragement for future female engineers (para. 11). Agreeing with Curran, Da Silva (2015)
states that there needs to be more women who take leadership roles in engineering in order for
them to serve as an inspiration for other women to be engineers (para. 1). The article Bucking the
Trend by Adams gives the statistics that out of ten women enrolled in engineering four of them
had a family member who was an engineer (para. 7). Schreuders, Mannon, and Rutherford
(2009) claim that women who have an engineer family member are likely to enroll in
engineering or a STEM career (105). Table 1 below, shows the top five societal obstacles

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reported by women in Aguirre-Covarrubias survey (Aguirre-Covarrubias, 2013, 22). The table

shows that engineering needs to due a better job in promoting itself as claimed by Tunnicliffe
(2012) in her article Why More Women? (para. 19).
Table 1: Societal factors that impeded women from pursuing an engineering career
Engineering is represented as a male dominated field

45%

Public image of engineering is mostly male

38%

Lack of women engineer role models/ mentors in my community

36%

Low expectations of females

34%

Traditional views about education/ careers for women

25%

Source: Aguirre-Covarrubias, S. (2013). Portraits of Success: A mixed-method study of

the enrollment, persistence, and success experiences of female graduate engineering
students at a hispanic serving institution. Retrieved from search.proquest.com.lib.
utep.edu/pqdtft/docview/1415871644/8D1C524FF0BE4082PQ/1?accountid=7121
The table above also enforces the argument that young women need engineer role models, and
shows that culture is an obstacle to women entering the engineering field.
Changing the culture that surrounds engineering involves all of society, and requires
much effort from men and women because there is a widespread acceptance of engineering
inequity towards women by both males and females (Mills, Franzway, Gill, & Sharp, 2014, 38).
According to Sterling (2013), women are not undertaking engineering careers not because they
are less smart, as some theories suggest, but because there is a cultural problem that discourages
women from taking part in the engineering industry (3:30). There have been changes whose goal
was to reduce discrimination in engineering, but such changes are not targeting or taking into
account the cultural aspect (Dempsey, 2015, 7). Tunnicliffe (2012) suggests that to start a

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cultural change, the change has to start at home. Parents should teach their children, boys and
girls, that engineering can bring a variety of opportunities and most importantly to remark that
engineering is not just for boys (para. 22). According to The Committee (2006), besides the
cultural issue, the United States need to change how science and engineers is taught, include
more creativity activities in order to attract more females to engineering (1). Following the
Committee, Schreuders, Mannon, and Rutherford (2009) believe that in order to address the
underrepresentation issue in engineering, a new curriculum that better appeals to men and
women engineers needs to be developed (98). Contrary to The Committee, Curran explains that
girls will start an interest in STEM careers, not by including more creativity in the curriculums,
but by exposing them to STEM related activities from a young age (para .9).
Approaches to reduce discrimination in engineering vary. A cultural change, an increase
of role models for female engineers, and a change on how institutions promote engineering are
the basics steps needed to be taken in order for women engineers to achieve equity.
Why does UTEP graduate high numbers of female engineers?
The University of Texas at El Paso has taken different approaches in order to encourage
more women to enroll in engineering. According to Bowen and Perez (2002) The University of
Texas at El Paso (UTEP), no longer has to deal with issues such as inequity because they are not
present (81). Therefore the university can focus on increasing the numbers of women in STEM
careers rather than dealing with discrimination issues.
In the article Bucking the Trend, Adams claims that campaigns with the purpose of
getting more women in STEM careers should never be targeted at women only (para. 18).
Richard Schoephoerster, Dean of UTEP College of Engineering (2010) follows Adams claim
when he explains that an approach UTEP has undertaken to encourage more students to enroll in

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engineering is by creating new types of engineers, which are more creative and better
communicators (para. 4). Schoephoerster attempt in attracting more women into engineering is
not tailored at females only but it is an attempt in getting more students interested in engineering,
among them women. According to Kolenc (2012), UTEP is producing more well rounded
engineers, and are attempting in broadening their engineering diversity by increasing the
numbers of Hispanics, blacks, and women (para. 2 & 7). UTEP has been able to pursue and
perform such changes in their engineering department because they are committed to their
students and faculty (UTEP news, 2014, para.8). The universitys commitment to their students
and faculty is apparent in several researches that UTEP has done in order to learn more about the
struggles and paths taken by their female faculty (NSF Advance Institutional Transformation for
Faculty Diversity, 4). Also, in programs for UTEPs women faculty, where newly hired women
can discuss topics with other female faculty such as teaching strategies, research, and publication
(Bowen & Perez, 2002, 76). Kolenc (2012) believes that other universities should follow the
steps of UTEPs attempt in diversifying their college of engineering, which is being done by
matching the demographics of their community to the college of engineering (para. 6).
UTEP has experienced great success in their strategies and approaches to increase the
number of women in engineering. UTEP is among the top producers of Hispanic engineers in the
nation (Kolenc, 2012, para. 14). And it has been ranked the number one university in percentage
of doctoral degrees awarded to women by ASSEE, American Society for Engineering Education
(UTEP news, 2014, para 1).
Conclusion
Discrimination against women in the engineering profession seems to be less than how it
was a few decades ago, in some workplaces and institutions discrimination is not apparent, but in

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some others there has been reports by women claiming that they have faced sexism and bias due
to their sex which might not be profession directed. Where discrimination against women is
evident, women are affected in several ways, such as being less confident, experience sexual
harassment, unfriendly climate, and unavailability for moving up the ladder. Discrimination in
the engineering industry has and is still being reduced by having women and men take a stand
against it, increasing the number of female role models, and by attempting to change the culture
in the engineering field and that that surrounds the industry. A great example of an institution
where discrimination is rarely seen and attempts to increase diversity in its field is the University
of Texas at El Paso. UTEP has tried different strategies in order to obtain a balanced and
equitable engineering field, which appears to be working.

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Aguirre-Covarrubias, S. (2013). Portraits of success: A mixed-method study of the enrollment,
persistence, and success experiences of female graduate engineering students at a
hispanic serving institution Retrieved from search.proquest.com.lib.utep.edu/pqdtft/doc
view/1415871644 /8D1C524FF0BE4082PQ/1?accountid=7121
Bowen, S., & Prez, E. (2002). Women's studies on the border: University of Texas at El Paso.
Women's Studies Quarterly, 30(3/4, Women's Studies Then and Now), 73-81. Retrieved
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Kolenc, V. (2012). Utep leading push to change way engineers think, look. Retrieved from
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