About 40 Percent of Women with Engineering Degrees Quit Their Jobs: Survey
Almost 40 percent of American women who are engineers quit their jobs or stay unemployed, finds a study.
Experts at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee observed trends in employment and career life of women with engineering degrees in aerospace, transportation, computer science, software and biotechnology. They found in the last 20 years more than 20 percent of women enrolled in engineering schools in the country and only 11 percent pursed a career in the same field. Their findings revealed various reasons why most women prefer to resign or never work as a full-time engineer.
The survey involved 5,300 engineering alumnae from 230 universities from across the U.S. with maximum number of women engineering graduates. It was observed only 62 percent stuck on to their jobs for a long time and 21 percent resigned within five years of employment. Participants cited work-related drawbacks like mistreatment by superiors and colleagues and unfavorable working conditions as primary reasons behind quitting their lucrative jobs as engineers.
Nearly two-thirds of women with less than five years of work experience in the same field were employed in other industries and fared well in their new careers. About 55 percent of subjects from this group were well-placed as executives, 22 percent enrolled in management and 24 percent worked as faculty.
"These findings are likely to apply to women working in fields where there are less than 30 percent women. These women are more vulnerable to being pushed out because they typically aren't in the internal 'good old boys' network," said Nadya Fouad, study author and researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in a news release.
"This may not apply to women working in other professions, but the findings do apply to management practices in all fields in terms of the importance of providing opportunities for training and advancement as well as encouraging a healthy work-life balance," adds Fouad.
The study saw no changes in professional skills, confidence level or abilities to balance multiple roles as a mother, wife and employee or to handle office politics. These participants reported working for 44 hours a week on average and earned about $76,000 to $125,000 annually.
"For organizations to retain women engineers, they first need to realize that it is not a 'women's issue' to want to spend time with their children. The reasons women stay with their engineering jobs are very similar to why they leave advancement opportunities and work climate," said Fouad.
The findings were presented at the 122nd annual meet of the American Psychological Association.
