This article by Lotte Bailyn - Sloan School Of Management, and Dr. Dalia Etzion, Graduate School Of Business, Tel Aviv University, discusses the result of a study on the differences between males and females experiencing technical work.
This report is based on a continuing investigation by the Department of Labor (DOL) on "the glass ceiling," that exists against women and minorities, within corporate America.
Responses to the open-form survey questions and follow-up discussions with female engineering students, engineering faculty, and professional engineers indicated five major reasons why women leave or become discouraged with engineering.
This article considers the "High Attrition Rates" study done by Elaine Seymour and Nancy Hewitt on reasons why science students switch to non-science majors. It focuses on overly aggressive methods used by college professors to "weed out" students in introductory courses.
Too many women begin their engineering studies susceptible to older studies stating that males are innately superior in certain math reasoning and visual-spatial abilities. Some of the alleged ability differences are contradicted by different experiences, studies with more careful analysis, and less gender bias in standardized testing.
This article identifies and defines the problem and provides a selection of solutions.
Relevant Literature on this Topic
Vincent Ercolano, "From Sleep 101 to Success 101," ASEE PRISM (September 1995): 25-29. Other keywords for this: gender diversity; attrition; improving academic environment for women; minority experiences; intervention programs for women and minorities in science and engineering.