Women make up 46 percent of the workforce in the United States yet hold only 12 percent of the jobs in science, technology, engineering, and math. Hoping to attract more women to careers in engineering, a coalition of engineering associations and societies, together with the WGBH-TV Educational Foundation in Boston, have established the Extraordinary Women Engineers Project.

The project will kick off with a book, expected to be published in the fall of 2005, that focuses on what women engineers from around the world have contributed to the development of innovative technologies. The book’s topic is clear from its title: Women Engineers: Extraordinary Stories of How They Changed Our World.

Other participating organizations include IEEE Educational Activities, the IEEE Women in Engineering affinity group, the American Association of Engineering Societies, the Society of Women Engineers, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), and the National Academy of Engineering (NAE).

“When people stop and think about technology and how it has changed things, we normally don’t think about it from anything but a male perspective,” says Jane Howell, director of communications for ASCE and a member of the project’s team.

The nontechnical book aims to inspire young women to consider engineering by featuring short essays about 150 or more women who have done outstanding engineering work. The editors are narrowing down a list of more than 400 nominees submitted by the participating organizations. “It’s really compelling to see the number of women and how incredible their accomplishments are,” Howell says.

Another project in the planning stage is an outreach campaign that will begin by producing a documentary film and other materials to appeal to high-school girls and those who influence them. The planners agree that women have the academic preparation to enter engineering but they lack guidance.

“Today, girls are taking the types of math and science classes through high school that boys are taking,” Howell explains, “and they’re doing as well as or better than their male counterparts. But we don’t see those academically prepared girls choosing engineering.” Instead, such girls are tending toward professions such as medicine and law. “It’s important that we find out who reaches those girls and what the influences on them are,” Howell says.

“The focus of the outreach campaign is to try to reach girls who are academically prepared and likely to consider a career in a technology field, and persuade them to consider engineering,” Howell continues. But there are other goals.

“One is building a partnership between the adult education and technical communities, even beyond the scope of this project,” she says. “Another is to emphasize the importance of a diverse engineering workforce and show everyone—even those outside the field—how significant engineering really is.”

Focus on Counselors
The organizers received a grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation to first perform a needs assessment for the project. They have begun to convene focus groups with high-school girls, as well as with the adults who influence them, such as guidance counselors.

While the information resulting from a recent focus group of high-school guidance counselors was mixed, “it certainly provided some insight,” says Douglas Gorham, director of IEEE Educational Outreach, the area within IEEE Educational Activities that oversees this project. “Some counselors thought they were very knowledgeable about engineering as a career, whereas others felt very unprepared and would be nervous giving advice about engineering to a student,” he says. Many counselors stressed the importance of involving math and science teachers in the process of recognizing, recommending, and guiding students who show potential.

Some of the groups cooperating on the initiative already have outreach programs, and organizers would like to “see if there’s a way to integrate these resources and use them more effectively,” Howell says. For example, the NAE may choose to incorporate the project’s findings and outreach resources into its EngineerGirl! Web site (http://www.engineergirl.org).

The project’s organizers also hope that the needs assessment will provide clues as to whether existing techniques will help with other underrepresented groups, including ethnic minorities.

Much of the research done on the dearth of women in engineering has focused on the United States, but the initiative “has far-reaching implications,” Gorham says. “The products that are produced from this outreach can be used by any of our volunteers around the world to persuade girls to go into engineering.”

Organizers expect to publish a report in March with conclusions and recommendations on how to reach out to girls. The report will guide the next phase of the project, which includes describing future steps in more detail and looking for additional funding sources to underwrite upcoming activities.

For more information, visit http://www.engineeringwomen.org.