This article from NPR’s All Tech Considered summarizes findings from a recent study of why women are leaving the engineering profession. The most common reason female engineers leave is the work environment. There is still a “boys club” culture that is not welcoming or friendly to women.
Nadya Fouad, the study’s author, found that although there are many programs in place at undergraduate universities to feed the engineering pipeline, she said that when those women graduate and enter the work force, they face the problems that ultimately cause them to exit engineering.
“It’s not women who need to change — it’s the work environment that does,” she said.