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Where Are the Women?
Engineering, Computer Science, and MBA Programs Address Gender Gap
More than 20 years ago, a shift occurred on America's college campuses as women undergraduates began to outnumber men. Simultaneously, the gender gap began closing at medical and law schools across the country. But at graduate schools for three critical professions-engineering, computer science, and business-women still lag behind, composing only 35 percent of students in MBA programs and still fewer in the other two fields. Both educators and working professionals see the need for change.
A 2004 National Academy of Engineering report predicts professional engineers are poised to become leaders in a broad range of fields, including business and both the nonprofit and government sectors. According to the report, "the next several decades will offer more opportunities for engineers, with exciting possibilities expected from nanotechnology, information technology, and bioengineering. Other engineering applications, such as transgenic food, technologies that affect personal privacy, and nuclear technologies, raise complex social and ethical challenges."
Despite opportunities, numerous studies indicate that, unlike boys, girls tend to avoid the necessary math, engineering, and physics- based sciences courses. Moreover, fewer female role models are available to champion their profession or mentor new colleagues.
Among schools addressing the problem is Wellesley College. Last spring, the nation's top liberal arts college for women launched a new course, Introduction to Engineering Science, in collaboration with MIT and Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering in Needham. It is specifically designed to encourage women to consider the career; advisers help students integrate related courses into their undergraduate majors.
Similarly, information technology (IT) and computing are booming globally yet remain male-dominated fields. The National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT, www.ncwit.org) has a multifaceted plan to improve gender equity in America's technology workforce within 20 years. Citing a U.S. Department of Labor forecast that one million professional IT jobs will be added to the American economy by 2014, NCWIT's website states that "in the aftermath of the dot-com bust, the perception of a job shortage has caused a sharp decline in enrollment in computer science programs. With the female labor force growing at a faster rate than the male, we must capitalize on women's value in our IT workforce. From airbags to voicemail to medical advances, we've seen the negative consequences of products and services designed without women's participation. As technology becomes exponentially more pervasive in our lives, we need to ensure that it is created by as broad and diverse a population as the one it serves."
Business and computing also hold great opportunities for women, says Heikki Topi, associate dean of business, graduate, and executive programs and former chair of the computer science department at Bentley College in Waltham, which focuses on business and technology. Unlike its counterparts, Bentley has a large percentage of women graduate students-graduate enrollment is 53 percent male, 47 percent female. Topi attributes this in part to the faculty, half of whom are women, and to the fact that there have been two highly visible women deans in the past 15 years.
As a member of the national Association for Computing Machinery's prominent 10-person committee on education, Topi is helping to identify solutions to the problem. "The situation is dire," he says. "In some cases female enrollment in computer science programs is only 5 to 10 percent or even less. We're finding that attitudes are formed at an early age. In middle schools, something creates a fear of computing and mathematics among girls that is strengthened in high school. By college, too often we've lost the battle but it has absolutely nothing to do with capability. Don't get me wrong. We have many talented female students in business and computing, but we would like to have many more."
Brandeis University spokesman Dennis Nealon says job prospects in software engineering are excellent. "Employment is holding steady. It is a good field for people looking to diversify their career path or enter a field where they will be in demand." Brandeis offers both a Master of Software Engineering degree and a Graduate Certificate in Software Engineering. Both are available on campus or via distance learning.
Kerry Doyle, 25, a Bentley graduate student in the Master of Science in Information Technology (MSIT) program, works full time as an IT manager at Greylock, a venture capital firm in Waltham. Doyle says one-quarter of her IT classmates are women, mirroring the workforce in her male-dominated field.
"The MSIT program has forced me to face my confidence issues, especially because I'm younger than many of the men in my classes," says Doyle. "They've been working in the field years longer. If anything, women have an advantage because we stand out. You have to let people see your abilities. The men have learned to treat me as an equal because I learned to project confidence."
The program's balanced curriculum has also altered Doyle's career aspirations. "I'm intrigued by the business behind IT, managing at the level of chief information technology officer or CIO," she says.
