WHY DO WOMEN LEAVE SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING?

Jennifer Hunt

Departmental Working Papers from McGill University, Department of Economics

Abstract: I use the 1993 and 2003 National Surveys of College Graduates to examine the higher exit rate of women compared to men from science and engineering relative to other fields. I find that the higher relative exit rate is driven by engineering rather than science, and show that 60\% of the gap can be explained by the relatively greater exit rate from engineering of women dissatisfied with pay and promotion opportunities. Contrary to the existing literature, I find that family--related constraints and dissatisfaction with working conditions are only secondary factors. My results differ due to my use of non--science and engineering fields as a comparison group. The relative exit rate by gender from engineering does not differ from that of other fields once women's relatively high exit rates from male fields generally are taken into account.

JEL-codes: J16 J62 J71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 43 pages
Date: 2010-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu and nep-lab
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (26)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Why do Women Leave Science and Engineering? (2016)
Working Paper: Why Do Women Leave Science and Engineering? (2012)
Working Paper: Why Do Women Leave Science and Engineering? (2012)
Working Paper: Why Do Women Leave Science and Engineering? (2010)
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