"Women in engineering": a history and politics of a struggle in the making of a statistical category

The paper is a brief cultural history of the making of "women in engineering" as a significant statistical category for the American nation. The author's main thesis is that national narratives, mostly made up by images of a nation in crisis and defined by powerful social actors and groups, have significantly shaped policies and programs for education and training of women in engineering as well as the latter's significance as statistical categories for the American nation. The paper explores the political struggles over the past 40 years (1959-99) to shape the federal government's attempts to educate and train women in engineering and in making them significant statistical categories for appropriate national needs, where what is appropriate changes over time.