A Survey on the Experiences of Women in Engineering: An Institutional Study

Engineering is a very challenging profession, but more challenging for women to participate from classrooms to workplaces. Some of these challenges include gender discrimination, male dominance, sexual harassment, employment discrimination, and leadership challenges, to mention, but a few. Notwithstanding, some young female career seekers have defied these challenges to still pursue a career in engineering. In this paper, a case study of women engineers chosen from a higher institution of learning in Nigeria was considered. Primary data were obtained and analysed from questionnaire served to female engineering students at Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo, Ondo State, Nigeria. Secondary data on students' enrolment and staff employment were also obtained from the faculty of engineering of same institution for analyses. This paper presents their experiences and challenges; and also made some recommendations towards better representation, participation and retention unto retirement of women in engineering in Nigeria.