Neha Milind Dr.

Wanda White English 1102-018 24 February 2014

Title: Why women do not choose career in fields of Engineering and Technology? Thesis: In the 21st Century not many females are choosing any careers in Mathematics, Science and Technology even though most job opportunities, job securities and prospects lie specifically in these fields in future. Background Information: Living in such a modern world with equal opportunities for both genders its disheartening and frustrating to see females not taking advantage of engineering and technological skills offered in college and in the job market. Being a female engineer in a male dominant field, curiosity took its toll. I choose this topic as I am an engineer and living amongst a lot of them in a learning community too with a ratio of 15:1 males to females is questioning. Prior Knowledge: I do realize that subjects like math and science is conceptual and hard to grasp. It does take deep passion and interest and a lot of hard work to continue in engineering and technology. Not many people want to choose a hard career in college and would generally like to choose the easy way out. A lot of females in college statistically choose careers in liberal arts, medicine, healthcare, dance etc. Math and science usually attracts attention of boys and not girls.

Psychologically females are diverted in creative and artsy fields whereas guys are forced to stick to hard core mathematics and hardcore skills. Perception is everything. Males going in artsy fields is probably frowned upon. General Questions: 1. Is it parents fault for portraying math and science as a male dominant field? 2. Are science and math classes really that hard to master? 3. Does high school make it engineering classes not freely accessible? 4. Are jobs out there not equal for females and males? 5. Is the stereotype girls are bad at math discouraging them to get into engineering and sciences? 6. Does it physically require more effort for girls to study math and science than guys? 7. Does it mentally require more effort for females to learn than males? 8. Does peer pressure and peer choices affect what major females choose? Primary Questions: 1. Is engineering really that hard for females than males? 2. Is it societies fault for portraying this field more male dominant than female dominant? 3. Is it still frowned upon in society for females have as high paying jobs as males? Possible Sources: I would like to read various college clubs posts and their websites to determine philosophy and mindset of various like-minded people like Washington education: wise beyond years . The

promote and bring together women in science and engineering to keep them well-knitted and motivated. One other study I found online about Barriers to Women in Academic Science and Engineering which I feel is relevant to my topic which could help me answer some of my general questions. There are some very well written articles addressing problems like Gender barriers, not families to blame for shortage of women in technology, engineering and math careers by science daily to help me further with my research. I hope to research further and rely on reliable sources like NY times, Washington post etc. to help me with my inquiry paper. Anticipated Problems: Problems anticipated while doing my research I realized that it could be hard to generalize why females dont choose engineering. There is a lot of raw data and case studies about my topic but there cannot be any certain answers. Some psychological answers are hard to come up with a hard core solution too. I really wish to find the answers to my questions and write a presentable inquiry project.