Where The Girls Are: Applying An Integrated Marketing Approach To Attract Girls Into Engineering Programs

The steady national decline in women engineering students persists despite a plethora of programs and camps at engineering colleges around the country aimed at attracting girls into engineering and technical fields. 1 Discussions about this decline often suggest that influential cultural, media and marketing images may affect girls’ career choices in ways that steer girls in directions other than engineering. When planning the first-ever overnight engineering camp for high school girls hosted at Boise State University, the planning team decided to embrace marketing methods to create realistic images about engineering that are relevant to the lives of girls. The planning team represented a partnership among Micron Technology, the southwest Idaho Society of Women Engineers section, Boise public school staff, and Boise State University faculty, staff and graduate students. The team defined four messages that formed the foundation for curriculum development and communications with prospective participants: 1) Engineers help the world; 2) Engineers think creatively; 3) Engineers enjoy working with other people; and 4) Engineers earn a good living. Demand for the “e-Girls” camp far exceeded expectations, and student evaluations at the end of the program indicated success at affecting the girls’ understanding, perceptions and interest about engineering careers. The program will continue in 2006. Background on Engineering Outreach Programs for Girls and Women In 1993, the National Science Foundation launched the Program for Women and Girls to broaden girls’ and women’s participation in science, technology, engineering and math. 2 Over the next decade more than 250 projects were funded nationwide by this NSF program, including innovative endeavors such as Shampoos Etc!, a science and chemistry exploration adventure at State University of New York, Binghampton, and Bring Your Mother to Engineering School at California State University, Los Angeles. NSF reported that these and other creative programs engaged girls and women through hands-on activities, teamwork, role modeling, and other methods. 3 These excellent NSF supported programs and other engineering and science programs geared toward girls and women have not, however, been able to prevent the decline in the number of young women choosing to pursue engineering professions. The United States has seen a steady drop in the percentage of women engineering students. As a percentage of the freshman engineering class, female enrollment declined from 19.9 percent in 1996 to 16.3 percent in 2004. Figure 1 shows the changes in freshman and total female enrollment percentages in U.S. engineering colleges. 4,5 Business leaders in the United States have warned that a shortage of skilled technology workers will threaten the nation’s ability to compete in the global marketplace, and that the lack of women and minorities in technology fields amplifies the shortage. 6 So why are girls, especially those who are academically prepared and capable, not enrolling in engineering programs? That question was the starting point in 2004 for a new national initiative, P ge 11448.2 the Extraordinary Women Engineers Project (EWEP), a coalition of engineering associations and the WBGH Educational Foundation, with support from the National Science Foundation and more than a hundred corporations, individuals and organizations. Based on 18 months of research, focus groups and surveys to address that perplexing question, the EWEP produced its final report in 2005. The report, “Extraordinary Women Engineers,” with First Lady Laura Bush as the honorary chair of the advisory committee, called for “a fundamental shift in the way engineering is portrayed” in order to increase the number of academically prepared girls who pursue engineering education and careers. 7 The coalition recommended that educational and community programs should focus on young women’s career motivators and should portray the rewards and benefits of an engineering career. The Boise “e-Girls” camp that is the subject of this paper represents a subtle but fundamental shift in the way engineering is portrayed. Although the e-Girls program includes relevant and exciting hands-on engineering projects, the program is not solely focused on providing activities to persuade girls that engineering would be a good career choice. Instead, e-Girls activities have deliberately been created based on the passions and motivations of many young women, such as making the world a better place or earning a good salary. The learning space created by e-Girls enables the girls to discover for themselves how engineering fits with their personal goals. This subtle shift allows the interests of the girls, rather than topics of engineering, to become the central focus. The Creation of a Boise Engineering Camp for Girls The idea for a high school girls-only science, engineering, and technology camp in Boise, Idaho was initiated by a science and technology teacher from a local high school who was concerned 10 15 20 25 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 200