Girls coming to tech! : a history of American engineering education for women / Amy Sue Bix.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bix, Amy Sue, author.

Series:

Engineering studies series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women in engineering--United States--History.

Women in engineering.

Women in higher education--United States--History.

Women in higher education.

Engineering--Study and teaching--United States--History.

Engineering.

Engineering--Study and teaching.

History.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 360 pages) : illustrations.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts ; London, England : The MIT Press, [2013]

System Details:

text file

Summary:

"Engineering education in the United States was long regarded as masculine territory. For decades, women who studied or worked in engineering were popularly perceived as oddities, outcasts, unfeminine (or inappropriately feminine in a male world). In Girls Coming to Tech!, Amy Bix tells the story of how women gained entrance to the traditionally male field of engineering in American higher education. As Bix explains, a few women breached the gender-reinforced boundaries of engineering education before World War II. During World War II, government, employers, and colleges actively recruited women to train as engineering aides, channeling them directly into defense work. These wartime training programs set the stage for more engineering schools to open their doors to women. Bix offers three detailed case studies of postwar engineering coeducation. Georgia Tech admitted women in 1952 to avoid a court case, over objections by traditionalists. In 1968, Caltech male students argued that nerds needed a civilizing female presence. At MIT, which had admitted women since the 1870s but treated them as a minor afterthought, feminist-era activists pushed the school to welcome more women and take their talent seriously. In the 1950s, women made up less than one percent of students in American engineering programs; in 2010 and 2011, women earned 18.4% of bachelor's degrees, 22.6% of master's degrees, and 21.8% of doctorates in engineering. Bix's account shows why these gains were hard won."

Contents:

1 Rare Invaders: The Pre-World War II History of Women in American Engineering 29

2 World War II: Emergency Engineering Employment Training 55

3 New Wartime and Postwar Engineering Majors: Purdue, RPI, Columbia 95

4 Coeducation Via Lawsuit: Georgia Tech 131

5 Coeducation For Social Life: Caltech 191

6 A Special Case: Women at Mit 223

7 Changing the Climate 255.

Notes:

OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.

ISBN:

9781461957249

1461957249

0262320266

9780262320269

1306411637

9781306411639

OCLC:

869736038

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.