HISTORY%20OF%20WOMEN%20IN%20ENGINEERING

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HISTORY OF WOMEN IN ENGINEERING

• Kauser Jahan1, Beena Sukumaran1, Jennifer
  Kadlowec2 and Harriet Hartman3
• 1 Civil and Environmental Engineering
• 2 Mechanical Engineering
• 3 Sociology

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Objectives

• Overview of history of women in science and
  engineering in ancient times
• Women have made many contributions and
  advancements to science and engineering
• Women have fought hard to gain equality
• Current status of women in engineering

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WOMEN OF ANCIENT TIMES
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Miriam the Alchemist

• Born in Alexandria, Egypt during the 1st or 2nd
  century A.D.
• Developed an early distillation process
• Developed a high temperature double boiler
• Inventions used primarily in the process of
  trying to turn metals into gold
• Founded a school of Chemistry in Alexandria

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Hypatia of Alexandria

• Lived in Ancient Egypt from 350-415 A.D.
• One of the most respected women of her time
• Many interests
• Philosophy
• Mathematics
• Astronomy

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Hypatia of Alexandria

• Inventor
• Instrument used in water distillation
• Device to measure gravity of water
• Planisphere (still used today)
• Shows where constellations will be on any given
  night
• Killed by fanatical Christian Monks who were
  threatened by her popularity

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WOMENS RIGHTSAGE OF REFORM
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Seneca Falls Convention of 1848

• Designed/organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton
• Convention advocated womens equality
• Declaration of Sentiments outlined injustices
  that women suffered

Elizabeth Cady Stanton
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Injustices Suffered By Women

• Married women were legally dead in the eyes of
  the law
• Not allowed to vote
• No voice in formation of laws
• Had to abide by them
• Husbands had legal power over and responsibility
  for their wives
• Could beat and punish their wives without fear of
  punishment
• Divorce and child custody laws favored men

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Injustices Suffered By Women

• Women had to pay property taxes
• no representation in the levying of these taxes
• Most occupations closed to women
• When women did work, they were paid a fraction
  of what men earned
• Professions such as medicine, engineering or law
  were denied
• No college or university would accept female
  students

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Declaration of Sentiments

• Document written during the convention that was
  based on the Declaration of Independence
• In the document Stanton wrote,
• "We hold these truths to be self-evident that
  all men and women are created equal that they
  are endowed by their Creator with inalienable
  rights that among these are life, liberty, and
  the pursuit of happiness..."

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Mary Kies

• May 5, 1809
• Recipient of 1st US patent awarded to a female
• Developed a method for weaving straw with silk

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WOMEN IN ENGINEERING
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Engineering Education

• Engineering schools for men were established with
  the advent of the Industrial Revolution
• 1802 USMA, West Point (Military school)
• 1824, RPI, Troy, NY (Civilian school)
• 1821 Troy Female Seminary
• 1837 Mt. Holyoke Seminary
• 1865 Vassar College
• 1875 Smith, Wellesley
• 1885 Bryn Mawr

Age of Reform 1840-1860 Equal Rights Right to
Vote Rights for Education Morrill Act of 1862
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Ellen Henrietta Swallow Richards

• First woman admitted to MIT
• 1876 Successfully lobbied to open the
• Womens Laboratory at MIT
• Worked as a Sanitation Chemistry Assistant at MIT
• Tested home furnishings and foods for toxic
  contaminants
• Investigated water pollution and designed safe
  sewage systems
• 1879 First female member of the American
  Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers

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Elizabeth Bragg

• 1876 First engineering degree awarded to an
  American woman
• Civil Engineering, UC Berkeley
• 1884 Kate Gleason, Cornell University
• Gear Technology Gleason Works
• 1892 Elmina Wilson, Iowa State College
• First female instructor
• 1893 Berta Lamme, Ohio State University
• Electrical engineering focus

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Rosalind Franklin Born London, England, July
25, 1920 Died London, England, April 16, 1958
Pioneer Molecular Biologist
Franklin was responsible for much of the research
and discovery work that led to the understanding
of the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA.
The story of DNA is a tale of competition and
intrigue, told one way in James Watson's book The
Double Helix, and quite another in Anne Sayre's
study, Rosalind Franklin and DNA. James Watson,
Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins received a
Nobel Prize for the double-helix model of DNA in
1962, four years after Franklin's death at age 37
from ovarian cancer.
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Maria Sklodowska Curie

• First woman to win a Nobel Prize
• 1903 Physics
• Discovery of radium and polonium
• 1911 Chemistry
• Isolation of radium and its chemical properties
• World War I
• Believed that X-rays could help locate bullets
  and facilitate surgery
• Invented X-ray vans and trained 150 female
  attendants

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Rachel Louise Carson

• 1936 First woman to pass the civil
• service test
• U.S. Bureau of Fisheries
• Worked as junior biologist
• After 15 years, she was the chief editor
• of all U.S. Fish and Wildlife Publications
• Has been called the mother of the modern
  environmental movement

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PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES
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Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education

• Formed in 1893
• Later named American Society for Engineering
  Education
• At the time of formation, only 3 women had
  received engineering degrees

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American Society of Civil Engineers

• First woman to address was Emily Warren Roebling,
  in 1852
• Nora Blatch de Forest inducted as junior member
  in 1909.
• Was not allowed further advancement
• Granddaughter of Cady Stanton
• Elsie Eaves became the first female member in
  1957

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Society of Women Engineers

• Established in 1950
• First President was Beatrice Hicks (chemical
  engineering)
• SWE Objectives
• To inform young women, their parents, counselors,
  and the public in general of the qualifications
  and achievements of women engineers and the
  opportunities open to them.
• To assist women engineers in readying themselves
  for a return to active work after temporary
  retirement.
• To serve as a center of information on women in
  engineering.
• To encourage women engineers to attain high
  levels of educational and professional
  achievement.

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Tau Beta Pi

• Established at Lehigh University in 1885
• Limited to men until 1969
• Badges were authorized for women as an
  alternative to membership
• In 84 years, only 619 badges were awarded by 98
  chapters
• Women were allowed full membership in 1969

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Engineering WorkPlace

• Only 16 of scientists, 9 of engineers and 4 of
  computer scientists in the U.S. are women.
• Women leave science and engineering careers twice
  as frequently as men.
• Women's salaries in science and engineering lag
  behind men's by 12 to 15 percent.
• AWSEM

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Women in Academia - of Female Faculty in
Engineering

• Full Professors 1.4
• Associate Professors 6.3
• Assistant Professors 13.7

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Female Deans of Engineering Colleges

• Dr. Eleanor Baum - Cooper Union
• Dr. Kristina M. Johnson - Duke University
• Dr. Ilene Busch-Vishniac - Johns Hopkins
  University
• Dr. Janie M. Fouke - Michigan State University
• Dr. Dianne Dorland - Rowan University
• Dr. Zorica Pantic-Tanner - San Francisco State
  University
• Dr. Stacie Swingle Nunes - SUNY-New Paltz
• Dr. Linda C. Lucas - University of
  Alabama-Birmingham
• Dr. Jane C.S. Long - University of Nevada-Reno
• Dr. Denice D. Denton - University of Washington
• Dr. Nancy Jannik - Winona State University
• Dr. Linda Katehi Purdue University
• Dr. Maria Klawe Princeton University
• Dr. Belle W. Y. Wei-San Jose State University

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CURRENT STATUS
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Undergraduate Enrolment in Engineering Programs
Source NSF
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Edith M. Flanigen

• Earned over 102 U.S. patents
• Innovations in petroleum refining and research
• Made gasoline production cleaner and safer
• Same filtering devices used to purify water and
  clean up the environment
• Elected to the National Academy of Engineering

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Why do we have lower numbers of women in
Engineering?

• Gender differences in preparation for science
  and mathematics
• Lack of female role models
• Lack of Advancement
• Glass Ceiling in the Management
• Lack of Mentoring
• Guidance and Encouragement from peers
• Lack of Training Opportunities
• Family Issues

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Acknowledgements

• Crystal Mattson, Sophomore in Civil and
  Environmental Engineering, Rowan University
• Betty Reynolds and Jill Tietjen (2001) Setting
  the Record Straight The History and Evolution of
  Womens Professional Achievement in Engineering,
  White Apple Press.