Ken Jolls, professor emeritus in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, comments on an Iowa State Daily article that argued that toy industries are pushing females away from science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. Jolls presents a strong case, using successes from Iowa State’s chemical and biological department, that women have actually become more empowered in engineering fields.
“The Daily’s columnist Elaine Godfrey makes a strong case women are not encouraged toward careers in science, technology, engineering and math in the same way that men are encouraged. By comparing girls’ and boys’ toys (listed separately on the Toys R Us Web site), she argues that spatial learning (i.e., STEM-directed) exercises are designed with boys in mind, while domestic and family-care skills are emphasized for girls. To show the academic consequences of that bias, Godfrey quotes 2012/2013 enrollment statistics for three departments in Iowa State’s College of Engineering. In civil, electrical and mechanical engineering, women students comprised between nine and 18 percent of the total enrollment.
While those numbers are indeed disappointing, the same measures for chemical and biological engineering (34 percent women), industrial engineering (30 percent), and materials science and engineering (21 percent) are quite a bit better. The latter numbers reflect spring 2013 enrollments …”
Read more in a September 16, 2013, Iowa State Daily Letter to the Editor.