SWE - Fall 2008 - (Page 28)

Chemical Engineering 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 2000-2005 1995-1999 1990-1994 1985-1989 Males Females Civil Engineering 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 2000-2005 1995-1999 1990-1994 1985-1989 Males Females When the SWE data are broken down by discipline, results show that retention for women is lower in chemical engineering than the other fields, but that both men’s and women’s retention are fairly comparable. At the other end of the spectrum, overall retention is quite high in civil and architectural engineering, with women’s surpassing that of men’s for the cohort that graduated from college in the early part of the 1990s. In chemical, electrical, and Electrical Engineering 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 2000-2005 1995-1999 1990-1994 1985-1989 Males Females Mechanical Engineering 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 2000-2005 1995-1999 1990-1994 1985-1989 Males Females mechanical engineering, there is declining retention in the field for both men and women as engineers age. Turning now to electrical and mechanical — the two largest engineering disciplines — we see that women’s retention in electrical engineering tends to be lower than men’s except for the cohort of engineers that graduated in the late 1980s. In the cohort of late 1980s college graduates, women were more likely than men to be retained in the field. Interestingly, in mechanical engineering men’s and women’s retention is on par except for this same age group. But unlike the electrical engineers, in mechanical engineering the men who graduated in 1985-1989 have a higher retention rate than do the women. The next table reports overall job satisfaction within gender, engineering discipline, and job category. The survey reports the percentage who indicated that they were “very satisfied,” which is a fairly extreme answer because opinion survey respondents typically give midpoint answers. Hence, when respondents do select answers at these extremes, it reflects strong opinions. It is interesting to note that in some cases overall job satisfaction is higher for people who are non-engineers compared with peers still in engineering or in jobs that are related to their original engineering degree. The green shading indicates those cells that appear to have important gender gaps in satisfaction levels. In most of these cases, men’s overall job satisfaction surpasses that of women, with the only exception being female mechanical engineers. Women in jobs related to their areas of training (but not in engineering) were more likely than comparable men to indicate that they were “very satisfied” with their jobs. The last table provides information on answers to one of the several survey questions about equity in respondents’ workplaces. Here we look at how engineers, those in jobs “related to engineering,” and those no longer in engineering assessed the extent to which women and men were treated equitably at their workplaces. There are some important differences across fields and across these three engineering work statuses. For example, women employed as engineers in civil and architectural engineering were most likely to indicate that conditions were equitable, while those in mechanical were least likely. Also, with the exception of civil engineering, women trained in engineering and now in non-engineering jobs were more inclined than women in engineering or engineering-related positions to indicate that women and men were “always” 28 SWE FALL 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of SWE - Fall 2008

SWE - Fall 2008 Heritage Club Contents Farewell Message from FY08 President Michelle Tortolani Congratulations SWE Magazine A Conversation with FY09 President Virginia Connolly, P.E. Introducing the FY09 Board of Directors View from the Executive Suite Editor's Page Public Policy Update SWE Retention Study, Part 6 Membership Information & Calendar A&B SWE Member Kristina Johnson First Woman to Receive John Fritz Medal University Labs Fuel a New Era in Energy Women Engineering Leaders in Academe 2008 Opening the Gateways to Engineering Your Collegiate Section History is Waiting to Be Discovered Honoring the Legacy of Ada Pressman, P.E. Report from WEPAN Engineering World Proposed Bylaws Amendments Point of View Correction Career Toolbox Corporate Partnership Council Book Review SWE Smiles In Memory Opportunity Index SWE Scrapbook

SWE - Fall 2008

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