Nobody had to force law firms to try and increase their representation of women, at least in any systematic way. Law firms did it because lawyers are a very liberal bunch and demanded it from within.
I don't see why the same couldn't work for engineering. Would engineering companies have to dip into a slightly less talented pool to begin with? Probably. But here is an interesting statistic. At my alma mater, the entering men have about a 30-point higher average SAT math score than the entering women. Of course, the school has gotten more competitive over time, so the women entering today have about the same SAT math score as the men who entered as freshman in my class (about a decade ago). Think about that--the cohort of "affirmative action" women today have about the same level of mathematical aptitude (measured purely by test scores) as the cohort of experienced male engineers who are 5-6 years out from graduation. That's the magnitude of the thumb on the scale, and I'd argue it's very small.
I think the bottom line is this--there is no reason there should be fewer women in engineering than can be explained by any difference in aptitude of women for engineering. In terms of aptitude for engineering, the starkest difference we see is in standardized test scores, particularly the Math SAT. In the range that characterizes engineers from good schools (~700) the pool is ~40% women. That's the upper bound. I honestly think you could get an equilibrium in the engineering field with ~40% women, an equilibrium that would be stable, once established, with no affirmative action.
Your point about possible stable equilibria I don't have any beef with. But honestly I think the “problem” is more on the supply than the demand side. Fewer women find engineering/technology attractive than men. Women have better options given their preferences than tech.
Normally this would be where I linked to the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth paper showing girls who entered math competitions withr similarly skilled boys to leak out of the tech/science/engineering path much more but I'm on my phone.
Comments
Nobody had to force law firms to try and increase their representation of women, at least in any systematic way. Law firms did it because lawyers are a very liberal bunch and demanded it from within.
I don't see why the same couldn't work for engineering. Would engineering companies have to dip into a slightly less talented pool to begin with? Probably. But here is an interesting statistic. At my alma mater, the entering men have about a 30-point higher average SAT math score than the entering women. Of course, the school has gotten more competitive over time, so the women entering today have about the same SAT math score as the men who entered as freshman in my class (about a decade ago). Think about that--the cohort of "affirmative action" women today have about the same level of mathematical aptitude (measured purely by test scores) as the cohort of experienced male engineers who are 5-6 years out from graduation. That's the magnitude of the thumb on the scale, and I'd argue it's very small.
I think the bottom line is this--there is no reason there should be fewer women in engineering than can be explained by any difference in aptitude of women for engineering. In terms of aptitude for engineering, the starkest difference we see is in standardized test scores, particularly the Math SAT. In the range that characterizes engineers from good schools (~700) the pool is ~40% women. That's the upper bound. I honestly think you could get an equilibrium in the engineering field with ~40% women, an equilibrium that would be stable, once established, with no affirmative action.
Your point about possible stable equilibria I don't have any beef with. But honestly I think the “problem” is more on the supply than the demand side. Fewer women find engineering/technology attractive than men. Women have better options given their preferences than tech.
Normally this would be where I linked to the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth paper showing girls who entered math competitions withr similarly skilled boys to leak out of the tech/science/engineering path much more but I'm on my phone.
Bowing out.