In Colombia of the more than 13,000 engineers who have graduated in the last 5 years, only 3,250 (25%) are women.
In terms of employment data, women studying engineering are 95% more likely to find a job in the first six months after graduating; than those who study undergraduate programs of another type, which have a current labor insertion that is between 43 and 60%.
By average salary, those who have just graduated from engineering have monthly salaries of approximately $ 2,800,000; while those who study other careers that are not STEM, can earn between $ 1,200,000 and $ 1,800,000 with a maximum of one year of experience.
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To develop the report, the Salesian University Foundation analyzed and crossed information from the National Information System of Higher Education (Snies), the Labor Observatory for Education (OLE) of the Ministry of Education, the Public Employment System (SPE) and the Colombian Society of Engineers (SCI), among other official sources.
Bogotá, October 2021. In Colombia, of the total number of students studying engineering, only 14% are women; Likewise, of the 13,000 professionals who in the last 10 years have received the title as engineers, only 25% belong to the female gender, as confirmed by a recent report by the Salesian University Foundation that analyzed and crossed information from the National Information System of Higher Education (Snies), the Labor Observatory for Education (OLE) of the Ministry of Education, the Public Employment System (SPE) and the Colombian Society of Engineers (SCI), among other sources.
Although the report clarifies in the last three years the gap between men and women studying STEM careers (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) has narrowed, the distance is still very wide. According to UNESCO, only 30% of women today choose this type of areas to study at university, showing that this gender still lags far behind in terms of representatives in STEM programs.
According to Camilo Navarro, dean of the Faculty of Engineering of the Salesian University Foundation, “at this moment women encounter several barriers that prevent them from participating in these disciplines, including prejudices and gender stereotypes that have great influence when choosing which profession to study,” she says.
Regarding the labor aspect, the report analyzed which are the professions that currently present better job opportunities and salaries for women, finding surprises between what they are studying compared to the opportunities offered by the market.
According to the Public Employment Service (SPE) and the Labour Observatory for Education (OLE), professions considered female offer lower levels of remuneration. “For example, a woman who finishes a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology has a 43% chance of getting a job the day she graduates, with an average salary of $1,200,000. In contrast, with one who studies Electrical Engineering who has a 95% chance of having a job on the day of graduation, with an average salary close to $ 2,800,000, “says Navarro.
Other data from the report that were studied directly from the Snies, confirm that, between 2015 and 2020, 87% of university students were registered in two groups of careers: those traditionally female, such as Psychology, Social Work, degrees in all areas, Psychopedagogy, Microbiology, Bacteriology and Nursing; and the non-traditionally female careers that have been ‘feminized’ during the last twenty years, such as Economic Sciences (Economics, International Business, Business Administration, Accounting), Law and Medicine.
Today, professional women’s job preferences center around marketing and finance. But sectors such as mining, extractive industries, public works, security, transport, logistics and technology are not part of their interests.
“This combination of educational and labor preferences has an important impact on the employability and salary level of women’s first job, since in many cases the sectors least preferred by them are those that actually offer them better salaries and employment opportunities,” adds Navarro.
These data add to the difficulty that the country has today to close the gap between the demand and supply of people to meet the advance of ICT and other technologies. “This gap has widened in recent years and it is estimated that, by 2025, we will have a deficit of 42,000 engineers,” he says.
To take into account, according to the Ministry of Information and Communications Technologies (MinTic), women who enter the digital segment in the labor market have more competitive salaries than in other industries. For example, those with an average of five years of experience receive a monthly financial compensation of more than $6 million.
Engineering has timidly captivated the interest of women
According to the OLE, from 2010 to 2019 (most recent official information), by basic core of knowledge, administrative engineering had more women graduates than men, with 2,281 graduates compared to 1,466 men; The same was presented in Industrial Engineering, with 3,106 against 1,682; environmental engineering, 16,030 versus 9,889; biomedical engineering, 1,491 against 1,320; and chemical engineering, 6,169 versus 4,674.
In contrast, when analyzing the 2019 data, the largest gender gap by engineering, in terms of number of graduates, was presented in civil engineering, since in these 1,822 men graduated against 850 women; systems and computer engineering, 5,102 versus 1,375; electronic and telecommunications engineering, 1,760 against 307; electrical engineering, 1,026 versus 102; and mechanical engineering, 3,833 against 506;
By percentage, the engineering companies with the greatest gender inequality per graduate are: electrical engineering, 90.06%; mechanical engineering, 86.8%; and electronic and telecommunications engineering, 82.57%. It is followed by systems engineering and computer science, 73.05%; and civil engineering, 53.35%.
“This phenomenon is due to some failures that remain in the culture, where women are induced to be calm, vain and to dedicate themselves to care tasks, which are less valued by society, while men must be strong, competitive and perform in more technical professions and in positions of power, which are the careers most valued by society. An example of this are the marked stereotypes in toys, as video games and technology are usually related from an early age to the male gender. Another scenario is related to the work of construction management, in which comments that consider women as incapable of making decisions and performing tasks with the same effectiveness as a man are still common, “says Germán Pardo, president of the Colombian Society of Engineers.
As for the engineering companies with the highest female participation, by number of graduates between 2010 and 2019, the following stand out: environmental engineering, 61.69%; and industrial engineering, 54.15%.
“Although there is an advance in the acceptance of the capacities and skills of women in Engineering, it is still necessary to strengthen the values in the family, society and academia that allow them to decide to advance their professional studies in this branch, and develop and carry out tasks related to Engineering with the same ease and confidence that men enjoy”, Pardo added.
The panorama in the country’s universities is worrying
In the Andes it was found that the total population of engineering students in the last 10 years has remained around 5,000 people, of these only 33% are women. By type of engineering, the program with the most women is environmental engineering (66% more women than men), biomedical engineering (53%) and chemical engineering (51%).
Regarding the Javeriana, there are currently 2,783 students in its different engineering careers, of these 1,922 (69.06%) are men and only 861 (30.94%) are women. It is interesting that in none of its seven active programs in this academic area are women more than men.
With regard to the District University, a total of 5,194 students are part of the Faculty of Engineering. Of these, 1,287 are women, 3,907 are men. It is also a matter of concern that in none of its engineering programs are female students more than men.
And in the Colombian School of Engineering, the total number of engineering students amounts to 4,230, of these only 1,367 (32%) are women. On the other hand, civil engineering, with 439 female students (32%) and industrial engineering, 376 students (28%), are the programs that have the highest proportion of female students today.
The results of this report set off the alarms of the academy, since it is worth remembering the importance of women for the development of science and technology in the country; and put gender equality and its empowerment in society between that.
Likewise, these data outline an opportunity that allows universities to impact more women with their engineering programs, generate better attraction strategies and develop plans within institutions to overcome the gender gap that still persists in this professional area.
