Why Have All the Women Gone? A Study of Exit of Women from the Science and Engineering Professions

Abstract

Despite recent employment gains of women in many occupations, women continue to be underrepresented in science and engineering jobs in the United States.1 Because the competitiveness of the U.S. economy is linked to the availability of highquality science and engineering professionals, attention has focused on potential educational and labor-market impediments preventing talented women from pursuing careers in science and engineering (Jeannie Oakes, 1990). This study documents another, perhaps surprising, aspect of the low representation of women in science and engineering. Women who have begun work in science and engineering jobs and have therefore cleared any educational and social hurdles impeding entry are much more likely to leave these professions than comparable men. As they leave, these women are forgoing the returns of large social and private investments. This paper documents a twofold difference in aggregate occupational exit rates of male and female scientists and engineers in the 1980's. Decomposing the aggregate exit rate into exit for different reasons, the paper reveals that the biggest differences in male and female exit behavior occur within two categories: exit from the labor force, and exit to other occupations for reasons other than promotion. Because the data also reveal that male and female scientists are different along demographic, human-capital, and occupational dimensions, multivariate models are estimated to determine whether these marked differences account for the large differences in exit rates.