Women
Minorities
Persons with disabilities

Women 

Differences in age are related to many of the differences in employment characteristics between male and female scientists and engineers (defined by either degree or occupation). Women with an S&E degree or occupation are younger, on average, than men: 44 percent of the women and 32 percent of the men with an S&E degree or occupation in 1999 were less than 40 years old. (See appendix table 6-21.)

Women with an S&E degree or in an S&E occupation are less likely than men to be married: in 1999, 62 percent of these women were married, compared with 75 percent of their male counterparts. (See appendix table 6-21.) Among those who are married, women are more likely than men to face the potential difficulty of accommodating dual careers. Women are almost twice as likely as men to have a spouse working full time: 82 percent of the married women and 43 percent of the married men had a spouse working full time in 1999. (See figure 6-4 and appendix table 6-21.) Only 13 percent of the married women, but 38 percent of the married men, had a spouse who did not work.

Among those with an S&E degree or occupation, married women are more likely than married men to have a spouse whose job requires technical expertise at the bachelor's degree level or above in engineering, computer science, math, or natural science. (See appendix table 6-21.) Thirty-eight percent of women and 18 percent of men had spouses whose jobs required expertise in these fields. Men and women with an S&E degree or occupation do not differ with regard to having children living at home.

Minorities 

Reflecting continuing changes in the rate of participation of minorities in S&E education, the age distributions of scientists and engineers (defined by either degree or occupation) across racial/ethnic groups differ. About 34 percent of whites with an S&E degree or occupation were younger than age 40 in 1999, compared with between 38 and 52 percent of their Asian, black, Hispanic, or American Indian counterparts. (See appendix table 6-22.)

Persons with disabilities 

Scientists and engineers (as defined by degree or occupation) with disabilities are older, on average, than those without disabilities. (See figure 6-5 .) Only 12 percent of scientists and engineers with disabilities were younger than age 40 in 1999, compared with 38 percent of those without disabilities. Conversely, 64 percent of those with disabilities and 33 percent of those without were age 50 or older. (See appendix table 6-23.)