WOMEN IN ENGINEERING: THE CASE OF THE POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL (EPS) AT THE UNIVERSITY OF A CORUÑA

The Polytechnic School of the University of A Coruña (EPS, hereafter) is a young engineering faculty, was born in 1991 and has been conducting studies of industrial engineering and naval architecture.
Engineering is a traditionally male career; however the situation in Spanish faculties has been changing in recent years, especially in some areas as chemical engineering, where the percentages of women are major.
Despite its youth, in the history of EPS have been able to observe important changes in relation to gender status that reflect changes in Spanish society although much remains to go to achieve an effective gender balance in engineering studies.

In this work we present an analysis of the evolution of the EPS from the point of view of gender. In this sense we focused on both workers: Administration and services (PAS), teachers and researchers (PDI), and students.

The first group analysis shows that currently the percentage of women (PAS) is less than men, 27% for administration and 33% in counseling situation quite distant from the average in our university. In the case of PDI (teachers and researchers) the rates have changed throughout history, in 1991 there was no woman, and now represent approximately 25% of the total, a bit far from the average University of A Coruña, currently 33%. Women's representation has grown considerably; however, further analysis of the situation shows that while women are coming increasingly to teaching, promotion within is difficult. In senior positions there are no women; however in positions of lower economic level the percentage of women is higher than that of men.

From the point of view of students different situation can be appreciated depending on the career. The percentages of woman in naval studies have been always lower than in the case of industrial studies. In 1991 there were no women among their students and the first naval architect graduated in 2001. In industrial engineering, there were female enrollment from the beginning and five years after five women completed their studies, a total of 8 graduates.

An analysis of the employment situation of our graduates is also included in this work. There were no significant gender differences, although it appears that the women have reached positions internationally more relevant than men.