Women’s Education in Mathematics,
Science & Engineering
Women in Science and Mathematics: 15th
through the 19th Century
• Educational opportunities to women,
limited to highest socioeconomic level.
• Educational opportunities for women, even
at highest levels, were seldom available.
• Until late 1800’s, few women had access
to post-secondary education.
• With some notable exceptions, women
were not among those who produced new
scientific and mathematical concepts.
Women in Science and Mathematics: 15th
through the 19th Century
• Participation frequently relied on substantial
encouragement from, or collaboration with,
parents, relatives or spouses.
• Education frequently relied on an “underground”
system of tutorials, lectures, home study.
• Anti–intellectual atmosphere until early 19th
century
• Post-secondary education closed to women until
founding of women’s college in late 19th century.
Women in Science and Mathematics: 15th
through the 19th Century
• Women’s colleges in late 19th century: Vassar,
Smith, Wellesley, Radliffe, Bryn, Mawr, Mount
Holyoke.
• Women’s early work in science often focused on
data-gathering, rather than idea-creation.
• By early 20th century, more women were
participating in theoretical science and
mathematics, and considerably larger numbers
were being educated for future contributions.
Women in Science and Mathematics
through the 20th century
• By the early 1970s, significant changes
had occurred in federal civil rights laws
governing the treatment of women in
higher education.
• Title IX of the educational Amendment of
1972 required higher education institutions
that received federal funding to treat
women and men equally in admission,
funding, and sports.
Women in Science and Mathematics
through the 20th century
• From 1973 to 1995 there was substantial
growth in the representation of women in
all broad fields of science and engineering.
• Women still continued to be significantly
under represented in the field of
mathematics, engineering, and physical
sciences.
Women in Science and Mathematics
through the 20th century
• Lucy Stone was the first women to receive
a baccalaureate degree in United States In
1847.(Solomon,43)
• By 1985, women received half of the
bachelor’s degree among all fields.
• By the early 1980’s, women outnumbered
men in undergraduate education.
Women in Science and Mathematics
through the 20th century
• By 1990 women represented 40 percent of
undergraduate degree in Science & Engineering
in US.
• By the early 1990s, science educators had
become alarmed about the rate at which women
and to a lesser extent men were abandoning
science, math and engineering majors.
• Women were dropping out of these fields of
study at a rate of 70% compared to a male
dropout rate of 61% in national samples.
Women in Science and Mathematics
through the 20th century
• In 1995, Sixty percent of U.S. undergraduate
students were women.
• From 1975 to 1995, the total number of
baccalaureate degrees awarded to women
increased by twenty-six percent.
• By 1996, Women earned 53% of undergraduate
degrees in biology, 19%of physics degree, 46%
in math and statistics, 28% in computer science,
and 18% in engineering.
Doctoral Degrees in Science and
Engineering
• The first doctoral degree in America was awarded to a
man at Yale University in 1862.
• The first women received doctorate degree in America,
fifteen years later was from Boston University in 1877.
• By the end of 19th century , 9 percent of all PhD's had
been awarded to women, with 228 women and 2,372
men receiving degrees.
• By 1997, women earned 41% of PhD's in biology and
agricultural science, 23% of math PhD’s, 22% in physical
sciences, 16% in computer science, and 12% of
engineering doctorates in United States.
U.S. Education
Science and Engineering Doctoral Degrees
Percentage Earned by Women
Field
1970
1999
Natural Sciences
9
34
Math & Computer Sciences
6
22
Social & Behavioral Sciences
16
54
Engineering
0.5
15
U.S. Engineering – 2004
Percentage of Women
Bachelor Degrees
20
Master Degrees
22
Doctoral Degrees
18
Workforce
9
Doctoral Degrees in Science and
Engineering
• The progress in doctoral degrees was not the
same. By 1990 women were still less than 30
percent of the Ph.D.s in science and engineering
fields.
• Overall, even with the significant gains that have
been made, women continue to lag behind men,
especially in science and engineering fields
where the percent of degrees awarded to
women remains substantially below 50 percent.