Women engineers bridging the gender gap

The number of women receiving undergraduate engineering degrees did not reach 1% nationwide (USA) until 1972. Today, the engineering workforce is estimated to be just under 10% female and about 20% of undergraduate engineering degrees are awarded to women. This scarcity of women in the engineering field is due to a number of factors leading back to the genesis of the engineering field. The paper traces the development of engineering, the evolution of engineering into a profession, the educational requirements associated with engineers as the field evolved, early women engineers, the status of women in the engineering field today, and the outlook for women in the engineering field in the future.