THE FUTURE OF ENGINEERING: A STUDY OF THE GENDER BIAS

Women are under-represented in the engineering field. Although more than 50% of Canadian university students are female, they represent less than 25% of students enrolled nationally in engineering programs. Our study found that female high school students are as aware of engineering as a discipline as their male counterparts but are significantly less interested in pursuing a career in the field. Knowledge about engineering was correlated to having an engineer in the family but not to the type of schooling (co-educa- tional vs. all-girls) the girls received. Our study also shows that our high school outreach program, Discover Engineering, has a positive effect on the interest of students, particularly female students, to consider engineering careers.

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