Engineering Career Expectations in the United Kingdom: Students aged 11 to 19 year old were surveyed by the Engineering Brand Monitor on their perceptions about engineering in 2019. The EngineeringUK 2020 report included their responses to questions regarding their perceptions about engineering as well as their desire to pursue a career in engineering. Overall, a higher percentage of boys of all age groups than girls express positive views of engineering. Similarly, higher proportions of boys across all age groups report they would desire a career in engineering compared to girls. For instance, about half of boys view engineering as a desirable career while only about a third of girls view engineering as a desirable career. Still, the highest percentage of girls who express positive views of engineering, including an engineering career as desirable, was among the older cohort of girls (age 16-19).
Intentions to Major in Engineering: Women are underrepresented among entrants in all engineering disciplines. Although over 1,000 women enter mechanical engineering in the 2018-19 academic year, they only represent 10.8% of the entrants in that discipline, which is one of the engineering disciplines with the lowest female representation. Still, while the disciplines of chemical, process, and energy engineering as well as other engineering have the highest female entrant representations, women comprise only 28.7% and 29.1% of the entrants in those disciplines, respectively.
Additional Resources
- EngineeringUK (2020). Excel Resource 2020, EngineeringUK 2020: The state of engineering.