More women in engineering: A 21st century cultural imperative?

Under representation of females in the engineering profession has been a topic of intense discussion for many years and the myth that women are excluded because of perceived inabilities or intellectual deficiencies has been well exposed. There have been many initiatives adopted to recruit and retain women in Engineering, including the introduction of new disciplines such as Environmental Engineering, where a significant increase in female student numbers was expected. Whilst we succeeded in attracting female students into the early years of the Environmental Engineering degree, the numbers have recently been on the decline and we again have low female participation in most Engineering undergraduate programs. We explore the history of integration of females into the work force, analyse barriers that have been identified in earlier research and discuss many of the solutions developed and implemented. We present current numbers and trends in engineering undergraduate programs for three diverse regions in the world. On the basis of this, observed best practice will be utilised to develop a better understanding of the recruitment and retention of females in Engineering