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Understanding the Changing Dynamics of the Gender Gap in Undergraduate Engineering Majors: 1971–2011

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Abstract

In this paper we examine the level and determinants of entering college students’ plans to major in engineering. While the overall level of interest in engineering has fluctuated between 1971 and 2011, a very large gender gap in freshman interest remains. We find that the percent of first-year women who plan to major in engineering is roughly the same today as in the early 1980s. We estimated the impact of predictor variables for five time points: 1976, 1986, 1996, 2006 and 2011. Independent variables were grouped into eight categories: personal inputs, background characteristics, learning experiences, self-efficacy, outcome expectations, interests, contextual influences, and choice goals. We present the findings in terms of those variables that have a consistent effect on the gender gap over time, and those whose effects vary over time.

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  1. Indeed, further investigation of the data shows that the increase in African American women’s representation in engineering programs has occurred primarily within HBCUs, with their representation in non-HBCU engineering programs declining markedly since the mid-1990s.

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Acknowledgments

This research was made possible by a Grant from the National Science Foundation, HRD #1135727.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, UCLA, 3045 Moore Hall, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1521, USA

    Linda J. Sax, M. Allison Kanny, Hannah Whang, Dayna S. Weintraub & Amber Hroch

  2. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Jerry A. Jacobs

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  1. Linda J. Sax
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  2. M. Allison Kanny
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  4. Hannah Whang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Linda J. Sax.

Appendix

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See Tables 5 and 6.

Table 5 Variable list and coding
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Table 6 Factor variables, loadings, and reliabilities
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Sax, L.J., Allison Kanny, M., Jacobs, J.A. et al. Understanding the Changing Dynamics of the Gender Gap in Undergraduate Engineering Majors: 1971–2011. Res High Educ 57, 570–600 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-015-9396-5

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