This document discusses women's participation in engineering careers in Nigeria. It finds that while women make up 60% of the Nigerian population, they constitute only 12.4% of engineers. The trends over time show increasing percentages of girls in secondary and post-secondary education but decreasing percentages of women in engineering programs and careers. The low numbers of women engineers is argued to slow Nigeria's technological and economic development. Barriers for women include cultural and social factors, lack of role models, and an inhospitable work environment that discourages women's retention in engineering fields. Strategies are proposed to increase scholarships, modernize schools, celebrate women engineers, and implement mentoring to improve the situation.

1. WOMEN ENGINEERING CAREER-
THE CASE OF NIGERIA
Christianah O. Ijagbemi Ph.d
Mechanical Engineering Department
Federal University of Technology, Akure
NIGERIA

2. MEN : WOMEN
 Nigeria Population 120,000 (2006 Population census)– Men
40% , Women - 60%.
 Women are more oriented than men to “communal” goals, such
as helping others or serving humanity.
 Technological development - mandatory for nations overall
development
- Nigerian women constitute a small part (12.4%) of the total
output of the institutions contributing to national development
(Badekale,1992; Ogunsola, 2007).

3. TREND FROM AGES
Distribution of Pupils in Nigerian Secondary Schools, 1959, 1963 and 1970
Year Male Female Total % Girl
1959 92,280 23,106 115,586 19.99
1965 151, 807 60,072 211,870 28.35
1970 205, 959 104, 095 310,054 33.57
Source: Alele-Williams (1988)
2005 Enrolment by Gender from Pre-Primary to Tertiary Schools
Year Male Female Total % Girl
Pre-Primary 956,475 903, 796 1, 860, 271 48.58
Primary 12, 273, 046 9, 994, 361 22, 267, 407 44.88
Secondary 1, 559, 038 1, 214, 380 2, 773, 418 43.79
Source: Statistics of Education in Nigeria (2005) by Federal Ministry of Education.

4. ENGINEERING TREND FROM THE CLASSROOM
2002/03 2003/04 2004/05
Male: 5,425 Male: 4,182 Male: 11,061
Female: 800 Female: 689 Female: 116
Total:6,225 Total: 4,871 Total: 11,177
% Female: 12.89 % Female: 14.12 % Female: 9.90
Students graduatingfrom facultiesof engineeringin NigerianUniversities
% Female Averageof 12.3% ( Ogunsola,2007)

5. ENGINEERING MANPOWER
 Regardless of the effort made to increase the number of
engineers in the past, shortages is still as high as 50%
(Ukaegbu, 2005).
Shortages persist even
- In universities and polytechnics charged with manpower
production.
- In intermediate technical manpower needed to support
engineers.
 Economic manpower ratio is inadequate - a ratio of one
engineer to one technician in the job market.

6. THE PURPOSE
 To present a picture of women participation in engineering
in Nigeria, to show important constraints that discourage
women’s participation, and to propose appropriate
recommendations.
 In order to achieve this, the following specific objectives were focused
upon:
(a) factors in education and training which act as obstacles to the attraction
of girls and women to engineering;
(b) reasons for women discontinuation in engineering careers and low
participation in the various engineering fields.

7. Low Women Participation in Engineering
Culture • Religion
• Finance/situational: Poverty, Child Abuse
& • Attitudinal: Rigidity of a certain mindset
Environment • Family balance
Education
& • Qualification -Mathematics
• lack of Role Models
Training
• Inhospitable and competitive work environment
Work place • Lack of confidence in technical skills (self efficacy)
• Remuneration
Atmosphere • Job security and opportunity for professional growth

8. The Engineering Career – Why Women Leave
Difficult-to-enter careers such as medicine or law
have higher percentages of women, Why?
PRIMARY FACTORS
Education Work Place
& Culture
Training-
STEM fields

9. 2010/11 Enrolment at the Federal University
of Technology, Akure, NIGERIA
Best University of Engineering
Metallurgical/Mater
ials
Male = 86; Female = 2
Total = 88

10. Strategies -Not just Recruitment but Retention
 Scholarship - Legislation of an Act on fostering and supporting
girl child technical education
 Government provision of modern facilities (including school
building structures) that out-class boys’ oriented schools at in
high school levels.
 Celebrating women engineers achievements - Provision of
annual merit award by the Government for women engineers
who have distinguished themselves at their workplace
Education – Mentoring – Peer mentoring to prevent isolation
and loneliness, Work place culture, Time issues, Networking.
Role Models: Influence of parents and mentors.

11. Implications for National Development
The fluctuating trend in graduate output and in
disfavor of women, indicated that:
more women are not as educated as their male in
engineering and as such,
low production of female high level manpower,
which in this era of technological and scientific
development will slow down the pace of nation’s
development.

12. Conclusion
Economic development is related to the production of
the right quality and quantity of graduates in
engineering, there is the need to make efforts to
educate more women in engineering.
This becomes necessary if the aspiration of making
Nigeria and other African countries to be among the
top ten world economies by 2020 is not a mirage.