1. Engineering Career for Women:
AN EXAMINATION OF ORISSAN WOMEN’S LESS ACCESS TO
AND RETENTION IN ENGINEERING CAREERS
Dillip Pattanaik
WISE-India
ICWES15th, 19-22 July, 2011, Adelaide, Australia

2. Millennium Development Goals
Goal – 1 : Eradicate Extreme Poverty & hunger
Goal – 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education
Goal – 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
Goal – 4: Reduce child mortality
Goal – 5: Improve maternal health
Goal – 6: Combat HIV, Malaria and other diseases
Goal – 7: Ensure Environment al Sustainability
Goal – 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development

3. GOAL – 3 TARGET
Promote Eliminate gender
Gender disparity in primary
and secondary
Equality and education, preferably
Empower by 2005, and in all
level of education no
Women later than 2015

4. Facts about India
India at a Glance
• Area : 3.29 million sq.kms
• 7th largest country
• Population: 1,210,193,422 (1.21 billion) as per 2011 Census
• 2.4 per cent of world’s surface area
• 16.7 percent of world’s population
• 75 percent of population live in rural areas
• 6,60,000 villages
• Literacy rate : 75.96% (Male) & 54.28% (Female)
• 27 percent of rural population below poverty-line
(less than 1 dollar per day)
• Percentage of Tribal (ST) population : 8.08

5. Development of Engineering Education in India

6. Faculty-wise enrollment of students
 The rate of
participation of women
in engineering courses
from 1969-79 was very
low.
 The situation
improved slightly from
1980-87, reaching 9.0 of
the population
 Further improvement
seen between 1988-93
 The enrollment of
women reached its peak
of 14.05% in 1996 and
the current percentage
is 23% by 2011

7. Engineering: Current position in India
• Engineering traditionally looked upon as a
profession only for men
• From 1 per cent or so in the 1970s, the
enrollment of women for the country as a
whole is now more than 25% per cent in India.

8. Status of women engineers
• Gender factors typical to women restrict
higher education and job opportunities for
women engineers
• Difficulty in being accepted as equals in a
male-dominated profession and difficulty in
rising to the top
• There is discrimination against women that
sometimes operates in subtle ways

9. A quick glance of Women Engineers in India
Women enrolment of total enrolment 22.2%
Graduates 15.43
Largest presence in Electronics Engineering 37.1
Technical educational institutions 29.8
Teaching 31.8

10. A quick glance of Women Engineers in India
• Mostly in teaching jobs
• Very low presence in other capacities
• Upper Level Managerial positions are too less
• Women engineers hardly at the head of
professional bodies or recognized with any
prestigious awards.

11. Prospects of Engineering for Rural Women
• Even this limited picture of engineering and
technology education and profession primarily
an urban phenomena in India
• So what are the prospects for rural women in
the engineering and technology sphere in
India?
• 70% Indian population resides in rural areas. A
majority of Indian women live in the rural
areas.

12. Orissa State at a Glance
• Area: 1,55,000 Sq. kms.
• Population : 41,947,358 (41 million) 2011 census
• No. of villages – 47,000
• Rural population : 85 percent
• Poverty Rate : 47% (63 percent in rural areas)
• Literacy Rate: Male-72.4% Female-54.4%

13. Engineering Education & Career in Brief in Orissa
• Education and research are the major forefronts of
Orissa.
• The investment for higher education is mainly done
by the state government and private sector.
• The learning system in Orissa has provided a base to
various engineering colleges and professional
institutes.
• There is a plethora of top engineering colleges in
Orissa providing modern and qualitative educational
facilities.
• The top engineering colleges in Orissa offers highly
qualified a faculty with top placement records for the
engineering aspirants.

14. No. of engineering colleges in Orissa
Year wise no. of colleges
70
60
50
40
30 61
56
51 52
48
20
10
0
2006 2006 2008 2009 2010

15. Engineering Education & Career in Brief
• No of engineering colleges : 48 (in 2006) and
increased upto 61 by 2010
• Nos. of intake per year – 15033 and increased
upto 15331 by 2010

16. Nos. of enrollment in engineering (year-wise)
18000
16000 15033 15117 15147 15181 15331
14000 13380 13151 12875 12608 12112
12000
10000 Total
8000 Male
6000 Female
4000 3219
2272 2580
1653 1966
2000
0
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

17. Enrolment and retention
In spite of all these efforts by government and private
sector….
• Participation of rural girls in higher education continues to
be low and negligible in engineering and technology
sphere.
• The drop out rate is higher among girls in
primary, secondary and higher education
• Gender gap is less at primary level and higher in higher
levels.

18. The Barriers :
Economic Social
• High admission fees • Family Background
•Difficulty in getting job • Results in early marriages, early
• Reluctance of employers to give motherhood engaging girls in child
jobs to women bearing and rearing roles rather than
• Less promotions in education
• Less salaries as compared to men • Family takes a priority over career
• Less professional recognition ambitions
Other Factors
•Less awareness
•Less willing to travel
• Less willing to relocate or shift base
•Mutual Career Priorities Competition
between Wives & Husbands

19. Rural women/girls largely excluded
• Many schemes and programs for enhancing women’s
presence and participation in engineering education
and profession from time to time
• But benefits have been restricted to the urban areas
and have not been very effective for rural women.
• Rural women remain largely excluded from
engineering and technology education and
employment in Orissa / India.

20. WISE - INDIA
 To create awareness and to encourage women
engineers and scientists to and promote women
scientists and engineers them reach the top --- WISE
– India has been created – to become the voice of
women engineers and scientists.
 WISE – INDIA is supported by International
Network of Women Engineers and Scientists and
looks forward to its guidance and cooperation for its
future activities

21. VISION
To build better prospects for women in science
and engineering through their active
participation and involvement

22. Mission
WISE - India aims to create career opportunities for women
by increasing awareness, providing support, enhancing
capacity building and by influencing policies for promoting
women in the field of science and engineering.
WISE – India also provides a platform for dissemination and
sharing of knowledge, mentoring, professional
development and networking opportunities to facilitate the
success of women in the science and engineering related
fields.

23. Thank You