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from the we'll-all-be-getting-dates-now dept.
Lina Nilsson writes in an op-ed piece in the NYT that she looks with despair at estimates that only about 14 percent of engineers in the work force are women but that there may be a solution to the disparity that is much simpler than targeted recruitment efforts. "An experience here at the University of California, Berkeley, where I teach, suggests that if the content of the work itself is made more societally meaningful, women will enroll in droves," writes Nilsson. "That applies not only to computer engineering but also to more traditional, equally male-dominated fields like mechanical and chemical engineering."
Nilsson says that Blum Center for Developing Economies recently began a new program that, without any targeted outreach, achieved 50 percent female enrollment in just one academic year. In the fall of 2014, UC Berkeley began offering a new Ph.D. minor in development engineering for students doing thesis work on solutions for low-income communities. They are designing affordable solutions for clean drinking water, inventing medical diagnostic equipment for neglected tropical diseases and enabling local manufacturing in poor and remote regions.
According to Nilsson, women seem to be drawn to engineering projects that attempt to achieve societal good and cites MIT, University of Minnesota, Penn State, Santa Clara University, Arizona State, and the University of Michigan that have programs aimed at reducing global poverty and inequality that have achieved similar results. For example, at Princeton, the student chapter of Engineers Without Borders has an executive board that is nearly 70 percent female, reflecting the overall club composition.
"It shows that the key to increasing the number of female engineers may not just be mentorship programs or child care centers, although those are important" concludes Nilsson. "It may be about reframing the goals of engineering research and curriculums to be more relevant to societal needs. It is not just about gender equity — it is about doing better engineering for us all."
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Grishnakh on Wednesday April 29 2015, @12:22PM
Girls are better at math and school in general while they're young but once they hit high school that advantage typically disappears particularly for math. I'm not sure if it is puberty or social pressure, or both.
It seems completely obvious to me that it's social pressure (both from other girls, from boys, and from parents and teachers). Older generations and conservatives don't want girls to be good at math or pursue "hard" disciplines; society in general is anti-intellectual in this country; "nerdy" professions are seen as men-only and not as prestigious as medicine or law (so really smart girls go there instead); girls form social cliques which keep them down (like pushing cheerleading); I could go on and on.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Nuke on Wednesday April 29 2015, @01:07PM
Perhaps I'm slow because it is not at all obvious to me.
Hormonal changes at that time of life can cause visible and often drastic changes in personality, outlook and lifestyle, in different ways for everyone. Someone previously confident can become withdrawn, or someone previously dull can become outgoing. I don't see why academic direction and motivation could not be affected too.