Why do girls choose engineering? A comparison of students in civil, environmental and chemical engineering

A large number of initiatives have been implemented to increase the number of girls starting engineering programs, but while a few have initially increased the numbers, none have delivered lasting results. This indicates there is a poor understanding of what attracts women to engineering. Among engineering disciplines, two consistently attract more girls: chemical and environmental engineering typically has 20 to 40% girls, compared to civil engineering with 5 to 10% girls. Despite this there have been no studies on what influences girls to select their discipline of engineering. This paper aims to evaluate what influences female students when selecting engineering as a university program and the particular discipline of engineering. Female engineering students from each discipline in the School of Civil Environmental and Chemical Engineering at RMIT University have been interviewed to explore why they chose that particular field of engineering and what influenced them in their choice. The results have been analysed to determine whether the factors are different when they choose different engineering disciplines and the outcomes will be used to develop strategies to encourage female students to choose engineering.