Career Choices of Female Engineers:

Despite decades of government, university, and employer efforts to close the gender gap in engineering, women make up only 11 percent of practicing engineers in the United States. What factors influence women graduates’ decisions to enter the engineering workforce and either stay in or leave the field as their careers progress? Researchers are studying existing data and fielding new surveys to help answer these questions. On April 24, 2013, the NRC Committee on Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine held a workshop to explore emerging research and to discuss career pathways and outcomes for women who have received bachelor’s degrees in engineering. Participants included academic researchers and representatives from the Department of Labor, National Science Foundation, and Census Bureau as well as several engineering professional societies. This report summarizes the presentations and discussions of the workshop.