Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Most effective practitioners of science, technology and engineering in Western countries are white males. A variety of studies have raised the question of why women are underrepresented in those fields. In this research, as one part of three consecutive studies, I endeavored to focus on the circumstance women experience as a marginalized population in a male-dominated academic field through two focus group meetings with female engineering students and a survey of 273 engineering students at a large research university. It was found that female students were more likely to consider or attempt to leave engineering programs. There was a significant difference by gender for leaving consideration or attempt in White engineering students, while there was no significant difference by gender in minority students. On the other hand, female engineering students still experienced difficulties for completing engineering careers in various ways, and specifically, they experienced the dilemmas of interaction with men and still “being a woman:”.