In 1961, President Kennedy enacted the Commission on the Status of Women, a 22-month study that examined women in the science and engineering workforce and recommended remedies to combat prejudices and outmoded customs that acted as barriers to the full realization of women's basic rights.
In 1965, Science Magazine published an article about the pattern of underrepresentation of women in the science and engineering workforce that has led to higher concentrations of male professional engineers over women. Clearly, the number of professional women engineers was sorely lacking 60 years ago, but have things changed for women over the decades since that information was released? Yes and no.
It doesn't take a report from the Board of Labor Statistics to understand that men have outpaced women in the engineering fields over the last century.
Since 1920, the Women's Bureau has been working to address the challenges and barriers unique to women in the labor force, and data from BLS and other sources plays an important role in helping to identify those challenges. For instance, recent data from the Bureau shows that only 8% of the professional electronic and electronics engineering workforce are women, a stark contrast when compared to men.
The latest infographic from the Women's Bureau details the growth of professional women engineers over the last 50 years. (Image credit: Women's Bureau)
That information is, of course, dynamic and only shows the numbers for that field of engineering alone, not the total sum of engineers working in all disciplines. According to a report from the Women's Bureau, the percentage of women working in the STEM fields paints a slightly better picture, with a continued increase in employment since 1970.
The number of women engineers working in the STEM fields in the 70s only accounted for 7% of the workforce, which in 2020 stood at 26%. The number of women engineers has grown over that time as well, starting at just 3% in 1970 and up to 15% in 2020. It is not exactly a windfall, even with STEM initiatives at the grade school and college levels that have been implemented over the last 20 years. That said, the numbers are rising.
Recent data from the Society of Women Engineers offers a different view of the number of degrees women were awarded in the 2020 – 2021 academic year. "Historically, fewer bachelor's degrees in engineering and computer/information sciences are awarded to women than men," states the Society's higher education category. "Overall, interest in these fields has grown, with more than 249,000 bachelor's degrees in engineering and computer/ information sciences awarded in the 2020-2021 academic year.
Although the percentage of women earning degrees has remained relatively unchanged in the past, the number of women obtaining bachelor's degrees in engineering and computer science has more than doubled from 2011 to 2020. Overall, the percentage of women in comparison to men has increased from 17.7% to 22.5%." Mechanical engineering took the top spot for women in 2022, with 5,789 degrees, while environmental engineering came in last, with just 685.
According to a 2023 report from the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, women are still underrepresented in the engineering workforce, with the greatest disparities ranging between the engineering fields and social sciences:
- Women make up half of the total U.S. college-educated workforce, but only 34% of them work in the science and engineering workforce.
- Female scientists and engineers are grouped in different occupations than men, with women scoring higher in the social sciences by 65%, while underscoring in the engineering fields at just 15%.
- While fewer women work in the STEM fields compared to men, their share of the workforce has grown at a faster rate over the last decade, accounting for a 31% increase between 2011 and 2021.
- Women had lower medium-income earnings than men in STEM occupations in 2021.
Looking at the latest data about women engineers in the professional workforce, it may seem like progression has been anything but stagnant over the last 50 years, but it only seems that way. There is growth in the engineering fields, but it is not overwhelming growth.
Those numbers will continue to rise and will likely gain momentum as more young women take advantage of STEM education initiatives. The number of notable women engineers and their accomplishments have given a face to their names, and they are recognized as heralds for others looking to follow in their footsteps.
Names like Hedy Lamarr, Edith Clarke, Ada Lovelace, Mae Jemison and Mary Jackson are notable examples of women who have overcome diversity in the engineering fields, and more are going to make names for themselves in the decades to come.
"I didn't learn to be quiet when I had an opinion. The reason they knew who I was is because I told them." – Ursula Burns, past CEO of Xerox.
Tom Grace is an engineer based in Chicago