GENDER DIFFERENCES IN ENGINEERING. THE TRANSITION FROM HIGHER EDUCATION TO EMPLOYMENT IN CATALONIA (SPAIN)

In recent decades, women have increased their participation in higher education, exceeding male participation in many European countries. Nevertheless, female participation in professional activities is still lower than male participation. The objective of this paper is to analyse possible gender differences in the transition process from university to the labour market in engineering. The analysis is based on data from the 2014 Employment Graduate Survey of the Catalan University Quality Assurance Agency (AQU). We use descriptive and bivariate techniques that summarize differences by gender. The results show that men are over-represented in engineering, that is, engineering should be considered as a male-dominated field of study. In addition, inequalities have been observed in recruitment, salary, job category and speed of entering the first job. These aspects determine the subsequent stratification of the labour market. Thus, women who attend male-dominated degrees suffer gender inequalities. According to these results, we can conclude that higher education does not resolve gender differences.