While enjoying my day off (painting my bedroom) on Martin Luther King Day, I started thinking about diversity in my workplace, or the lack thereof.

You see, as an engineer I’ve worked three different places, twice for the private sector and once for the government and none of those places are what most would considered “diverse”.  At first I figured it was just me, I’m a young engineer and haven’t seen much of the science and engineering workforce outside of my own experiences. So I decided to do what any good engineer would… RESEARCH!

What I found was a bit surprising. According to a government poll of the number of people by ethnicity in science and engineering positions across the country they found:

Caucasian
Males – 8,332,000
Females-6,139,000

Asian
Males-1,132,000
Females-801,000

African American
Males-458,000
Females-617,000

Hispanic
Males-541,000
Females-485,000

American Indian / Alaskan Native
Males-41,000
Females-43,000

Admittedly, this poll was last updated in 2008, but I doubt too much has changed in the past few years.

Looking at raw numbers isn’t always the greatest way to compare data, so I again did what any good engineer would do and… MADE GRAPHS!

It  can be seen pretty clearly that science and engineering are pretty well dominated by caucasian males and females, but why is that? I’ve read a few different theories on the matter, none of which seem very convincing to me.

The civil rights movement simply hasn’t reached the laboratories yet. I find this hard to believe. Maybe 30 years ago it could have been an excuse, but now? There are people out there whose whole purpose in life is to make sure civil liberties exist everywhere.

Most other ethnicities don’t find science or engineering as interesting as Caucasian people do. This seems absurd to me; but could it be possible that ethnicity plays this strong of a part in determining ones interests?

America is experiencing a brain drain: People are getting their education here then heading somewhere else to make their fortunes. A few years ago I would have pointed my finger here, but with so many good science and engineering schools outside the US I don’t think engineers can move globally as easily as they once could.

So here I am, posing a question I don’t really have an answer to. Why is engineering so monochromatic? Educational opportunities? Lack of role models? Unequal targeting of companies to inspire interest in minorities?… All of the above?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this though, please, keep it civil.

Be Sociable, Share!

•