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Gender diversity changes in a small engineering discipline: materials science and engineering

Keith J. Bowman (School of Materials Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA and School of Engineering Education, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA)

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

ISSN: 2040-7149

Article publication date: 15 February 2011

1177

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to establish greater understanding of changes in gender diversity at the undergraduate, graduate and faculty levels for a small engineering discipline, materials science and engineering (MSE), and how it may be related to different cultures across the variety of engineering disciplines.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper assesses publicly available data on the demographics of US MSE programs to explore expectations of correlation between increased gender diversity at the graduate level and among faculty versus undergraduate gender diversity.

Findings

The number and percentage of women increased substantially in graduate programs and within faculties whereas the percentage of women receiving bachelor's of science degrees in engineering (BSE) in MSE, and nearly all other engineering disciplines, was significantly lower in 2009 than in 2000. Diversity advances at graduate, postdoctoral and faculty levels in the interdisciplinary field of MSE, and likely other relatively young engineering disciplines, have been achieved via a continuous migration of individuals from other science and engineering disciplines as well as from international science and engineering programs.

Research limitations/implications

The paper does not explore cause‐and‐effect, but rather provides a case study of trends occurring within a specific discipline. When evidence for a “leaky pipeline” is found within one generalized context (i.e. engineering), the assumption has been that every discipline (i.e. MSE, biomedical engineering) within that context has leaky pipelines that must be fixed. Given the present data, such assumptions may be inappropriate and perpetuate an understanding of how to improve gender diversity that is not helpful and, in fact, may be harmful to achieving diversity.

Originality/value

The paper provides an assessment of gender diversity for a smaller discipline and explores applicability of conventional pipeline models for career progression.

Keywords

Citation

Bowman, K.J. (2011), "Gender diversity changes in a small engineering discipline: materials science and engineering", Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Vol. 30 No. 2, pp. 127-144. https://doi.org/10.1108/02610151111116517

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2011, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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