Critical Influences on the Career Choice of Women Engineers

Carter, Ruth and Kirkup, Gill (1990). Critical Influences on the Career Choice of Women Engineers. U.S. Women Engineer, 36(1) pp. 23–25.

Abstract

The question of what makes a woman choose a career in engineering is crucial to the activities of organizations like SWE (Society of Women Engineers). Educationalists and engineers have researched and written about this issue in the hope of identifying significant influences. The positive factors could then be structured into the environments of girls and women - for example at school - and so improve the recruitment of women to the profession. US Women Engineer has, over the years, reported a range of initiatives in this area carried out by a variety of organizations, as well as by SWE itself. Often it id difficult to assess their specific impact since they inevitably happen in the context of many other equally pervasive influences.

Plain Language Summary

This short article considers the impact of different influences on the career choices of women who decide to work in the engineering sector. Influences at home (family culture), at school, and at alter stages in life are discussed using case study interviews.

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