More girls take to engineering studies : Survey

New Delhi, Jul 27 (UNI) More girls are taking to engineering studies these days with the enrollment level going up by an enormous 125 per cent in 2008 from 22 per cent in 2002, according to a survey finding.

The emergence of the knowledge economy has motivated more girls to acquire engineering skills and majority of them opt for system engineering and information and communication, the survey by Assocham Social Development Foundation said.

The survey on 'Rising Trend of Women towards the Technical Education' has covered over 20 engineering schools, including the National Institutes of Technology (NITs).

''Their views were sought and it was discovered that females' participation in acquiring engineering skills since 2002 onwards was more towards system engineering followed by information and communication, environmental and electrical engineering,'' the survey said.

However, aerospace and material engineering are not preferred by women in India.

''System engineering seems to be extremely popular in young females as their intake in this branch by various engineering institutions has gone up to over 40 per cent while it was less than 18 per cent six years ago,'' Assocham president Sajjan Jindal said.

According to Mr Jindal, women have been bettering their male counterparts in system engineering.

''The important motive to pursue engineering among the men as well as women are the career opportunities and hopes for good salaries and job security that the profession offers,'' the survey said.

The survey said 90 per cent of women engineers are motivated by their academic performance and 71 per cent for career as well as good salary prospects that influence them to opt for engineering.

However, in case of men, 79 per cent of them opt for engineering by their academic performance as well as challenges that the work brings in.

The survey said 97 per cent of male engineers and 92 per cent of female engineers are employed, almost all of them as engineers.

However, the unemployment rate among females is found to be 3 per cent due to their inability to pursue careers in engineering after their marriage.

The survey points out that 71 per cent of male engineers take active part in corporate management but hardly 29 per cent of women get involved in management activities.

''Females have lesser involvement in management because of the time factor and also that the management has faith in their male counterparts for their consistent longer hours of work,'' said the survey.

The survey says 55 per cent of men and 26 per cent of female engineers feel they are equally treated in their organization.

The perception of disparity was particularly evident among certain professions, particularly architecture and manufacturing, which contain largely business-related disciplines.

The survey also says that most of the women engineers consult their parents, especially father, in order to pursue a career in engineering. The impact of parents on women is stronger than on men (86 per cent of women compared to 24 per cent men).

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