More Females Than Males? Deciphering The Psychosocial Characteristics That Attract Girls Into Engineering In Puerto Rico

It is broadly recognized that in many industrialized countries there is a gap in the number of applications and enrollments into engineering careers of female students as compared to their male counterparts. The latest statistics in the US talk of a 60% gap (i.e. 20% vs 80% female and male enrollments respectively). Curiously enough, Puerto Rico is the one location in the Western world where a very rigorous 5-year engineering school attracts roughly the same female and male enrollments to any engineering area, and significantly more females than males to Industrial Engineering in particular. While attrition and retention issues continue to be similar to those in other parts of the United States, the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez still graduates more females than males basically due to the initial enrollment numbers. Prior studies about the UPRM case have concentrated in retention strategies and female problems but to our knowledge, no one has tried to determine the psycho-social characteristics of Puerto Rican females that influence their choice of a career in engineering. We present the results of a series of focus groups being undertaken to elicit the factors that affect attraction and retention to the Industrial Engineering program at the UPRM. In this paper, we will concentrate in differentiating prior research findings related to why women are reluctant to enter STEM careers in the US as opposed to in Puerto Rico.