Chapter 3: Science & Engineering Indicators 93
Women
Thirty years ago women had few career choices. Although the number of women acquiring college degrees increased steadily during the 1950s and 1960s, women's employment opportunities were largely limited to teaching or nursing. Today, women have an unlimited number of career options.(Click here for footnote 28.) Disproportionately few, however, choose engineering; women are also underrepresented in some of the physical science fields, e.g., physics and geology. (See "Factors in Female Underrepresentation" for information on
current research into the reasons for women's underrepresentation in these fields.)
In 1992, just 9 percent of U.S. engineering jobs were filled by women. In addition, only 13 percent of working physicists and astronomers, and 11 percent of geologists, were female. (See figure 3-12.)
In contrast, in 1992, nearly one-third of all lawyers and over one-quarter of all physicians in the labor force were women.(Click here for footnote 29.)Also, women have made great gains in employment in many of
the sciences. They now account for 40 percent of the biological scientists, 30 percent of the chemists, and nearly 60 percent of the psychologists. (See appendix table 3-16.)
Footnote 28:
Turner and Bowen (1990), in a study of college degrees awarded to women, concluded that women now attending college who once could have been expected to major in teaching, now choose instead to major in business.
Footnote 29:
These percentages will climb steadily for at least several more years because women now comprise about 40 percent of the students currently attending medical school and half of those in law school.
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