A Vision for the Future of European Engineering

Abstract

Despite sustained efforts to promote engineering education and careers to young women it remains the most male dominated academic discipline. This paper will briefly set the scene by considering the European wide statistical data on women and technology. It will then report and analyse research on why women do (or do not) study engineering in Higher Education, and then proceed to explore the issues and problems they may confront in an engineering career. It will be argued that these two areas of research are intrinsically linked and that there is a need to take a long-term, holistic approach to reaching a more equitable distribution of engineering across the two genders. It is proposed that the areas that need tackling are: gender stereotyping and self stereotyping by girls and women; family, friends and the media reinforcing of stereotyping; school options and qualifications; careers education and advice; Higher Education & training environments & pedagogy; employment policies and practices; Professional Institutes, membership bodies and networks; and last but not least Government legislation and policy. Underpinning the whole paper is the belief that greater gender-equality could enhance both the education and the profession of engineering, as a desirable aim in principle, but also that women represent an underutilised resource in the field.