Gender and Career Outcomes of U.S. Engineers

Abstract

Why are women more likely than men to leave the U.S. engineering workforce?& This article analyses existing, nationally-representative data about engineers in the United States to answer this question.& Two types of factors are considered: factors associated with balancing work/family; and those associated with the relative success of moving into managerial work away from technical tracks, a common engineering career path.& The data are the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Science and Engineering Statistical Data System for 2006 and provide the most comprehensive data about the U.S. science and engineering workforce.& While U.S. engineering women are more likely than their male peers to indicate that family-related reasons were part of the reason for not being in the field, this reason was less important than were “changes in career or professional interests.”& Consistent with previous research, men are more likely than women to move into managerial careers and to indicate that they have left engineering for “pay or promotion opportunities.”