Women engineers in Turkey: professional modernity in a traditional society

Abstract

Summary form only given as follows. In recent decades, engineering schools in the United States have made significant strides in recruiting female faculty and students. It may surprise American and other Western readers that a traditional, developing country like Turkey already has an exceptionally high percentage of women in engineering. Indeed, despite the relatively conventional social-cultural sphere in Turkey, women are represented much more in engineering areas compared to their Western counterparts. The average percentage of female academics in Turkish engineering disciplines has been around 40% in the last decade; chemical engineering has the highest percentage, aeronautical engineering the lowest. Similar trends are followed among the engineering and student populations with a gradually increasing profile for women. Moreover, women engineers get equal pay with men, indicating a virtual total absence of negative professional discrimination against them in the country. The professional status of Turkish woman engineers therefore can be said to be phenomenal. The paper discusses this phenomenal condition and contrasts the truly divergent social (tradition-imposed) and professional (state-imposed) roles of women engineers in Turkey. The discussion is presented in terms of three categories, namely, women as academics, engineers and students in engineering. Some comparisons are also made between the professional status of female engineers in the United States and in Turkey.