Female enrollment in higher education increased substantially during the later half of the twentieth century, but that trend did not carry over as strongly into the field of engineering. The Society of Women Engineers reports that in 1998, only 20 percent of engineering undergraduates in the United States were female.
The University's chapter of the Society of Women Engineers hosted 22 female Virginia high school students last Saturday in an effort to encourage those females to study engineering at the University.
Chapter President Lauren Inouye said her organization sends an invitation letter to Virginia's high school counseling offices each year. The letter encourages counselors to tell female students who may be interested in studying engineering to attend the event.
"We show them what engineering is like and what engineering at U.Va. is like," Inouye said.
High school students tour Grounds with University Guides, spend a night in first year housing and hear some of the a capella groups perform. The program also coincides with the Engineering school's open house day.
Inouye said turnout for the program was lower this year than in previous years. Turnout also was lower this year for programs aimed at minorities in engineering.
Some feel low female enrollment in engineering programs may be related to their interests in high school.
"Girls stereotypically shy away from math and science in high school and when they get to college they aren't competitive or they aren't interested," said Kate O'Loughlin, service co-chairwoman of the University's chapter.
The University has done a good job in recruiting females, Inouye said. Female enrollment at the University is "above average."
Currently, 25 percent of Engineering undergraduates are female and 23 percent of Engineering graduate students are female.
Of the 159 Engineering School faculty members, 21, or 13 percent, are female.
O'Loughlin said more and more women are becoming involved in engineering. But, male-female parity still remains low in comparison to other programs in higher education.
According to the most recent statistics available, 60 percent of College students are female whereas 43 percent of students in the University's Law School are female.
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