NSF has a ton of information on this for the U.S. population. I'm too lazy right now to dig it up, but it is there.
On May 1, 2012, at 4:40 PM, James M. Polk wrote: > There have been some good numbers floated on recent threads, but at least for > me, they aren't enough to gain a complete (or nearly complete) picture of the > issue. > > Having studied statistics, we need to know a starting point, and look for the > reductions (or increases) from that point forward. Starting in high school is > not sufficiently refined enough, as there are a lot that take advanced math > (personally I'd start with trig - because that kicked my ass - but rarely is > it its own class, so let's start with calculus 1) that don't go into > engineering. Thus, high school is probably not a good place to measure from. > Therefore, it needs to be college. > > We need to know > > % of class (based on year started) that is female in engineering > (do we want to start with electrical and CS to > be more applicable to our situation?) > > We'll call that percent 'X' > > then > > %X of drops from engineering (BS) (or just elec/CS?) over the college years > before graduation? > > then > > %X that enter workforce after BS in Engineering (or just elec/CS?) into the > engineering field? > > then > > %X that start graduate school (MS) in engineering (or just elec/CS)? > > %X that receive MS degree in engineering (or just elec/CS)? > > %X that enter workforce after MS in Engineering (or just elec/CS?) into the > engineering field? > > then > > %X that start doctoral school (PhD.) in engineering (or just elec/CS)? > > %X that achieve PhD. in engineering (or just elec/CS)? > > then > > %X that enter workforce after PhD in Engineering (or just elec/CS?) into the > engineering field? > > This will likely track those that are entering the engineering workforce, and > with what level of education. From that point in the analysis - we can > attempt to track at what point there are further drops out of the engineering > workforce by women (i.e., after how many years). Or is it as simple as > problems after childbirth to reenter the workforce (for whatever reason). > > As an example, if there is a significant difference from those that drop out > after their BS from those that drop out MS, then maybe something should be > done to encourage women to stay for the MS. > > comments or questions? > > James >
