The number of women getting into engineering in Canada has been on the decline, despite a decade of efforts to encourage more girls to think of technical careers. Even though women currently make up more than half of the undergraduate populations across Canada, the number of women enrolled in engineering programs dropped from a high of 21 per cent in 2001 to 17 per cent in 2009. The portion of licensed engineers in Canada who are women has grown from 7 per cent in 2000, but the figure still sits at only 10 per cent, according to Ottawa-based Engineers Canada.

“It’s still a difficult place for women to be,” says Kerry Black (CivE, 0T7), who is currently finishing her thesis for her master’s degree in civil engineering at UBC. Black, who completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto, said she learned that lesson even before she began studying engineering. It wasn’t until she was connected with a female engineering professor, who became her mentor, that she really felt on track. Without that support, Black said she likely would not have stayed in the field.

Some schools are increasing the number of female faculty to provide more role models that will in turn help attract more young women to the profession. Meanwhile, much of the emphasis of both universities and industry associations is getting out the message that engineering is a helping profession.

University of Toronto and Queen’s University each report modest increases in the number of female engineering students this year. And the number of women registered in Engineer in Training programs across Canada (a mandatory prelicensing phase), is now equal to the number of female engineering graduates.

Follow the link to read the full article, including statistics, on The Globe and Mail website.