Natasha D'Souza

When I was in university there were about five women in a class of sixty Electrical Engineering students. My first job out of university resulted in a similar number. Now years later the statistics are not much better for women in technical programs.

The University of Texas at Austin has some interesting statistics. In the Fall of 2007, only 12.6% of undergraduate students enrolled in Electrical Engineering were women. The statistics for other programs are somewhat similar with Biomedical Engineering being as high as 37.2%.

In 1999 the Society of Women Engineers posted some results that are based on employed engineers. The ratios of Electrical are somewhat similar, there were some improvements in Civil Engineering.

If women are consumers of engineering products and services then shouldn’t they be involved in this process? So why are the percentages not higher? Is it that young women are dropping math in high school? Do they not have enough female role models?

The Extraordinary Women Engineers Project addresses some of these.

To celebrate National Engineering Week I will profile some women engineers on this Blog. In the interim you can check out some cool engineers.