dustrial experience with a chemical company. She was declared to have by far the best technical background of any of the junior technologists in that company, employed as persons who perform all types of food laboratory work with a minimum amount of supervision. Two chemical companies were among the 4 employing women with chemical engineering training. One in 1946 employed 2 women with bachelor of science degrees in chemical engineering, 1 as an engineer in research and development and 1 as a chemist. Another chemical company, having employed a woman with a degree in chemical engineering on patent work involving drafting during the war, was so well satisfied with her work that when she left in 1946 a special and successful effort was made to replace her with a woman of equivalent training. During the war, 4 or 5 women with degrees in chemical engineering were employed in analytical work in the research laboratory of this firm, but most of these left to be married. The fourth firm was an electrical machinery company which employed a few women chemical engineers in its design engineering division.

Among women, as among men, there are a few whose degrees were in chemistry rather than in engineering but who became engineers by virtue of their jobs. At one research institution visited by a Women's Bureau representative in 1946, seven women who had bachelor's degrees in chemistry were working as research engineers.

At that time women chemical engineers were scarce also in Federal agencies. One was employed at the Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory of the Civil Aeronautics Administration, and 1 was employed at the Tennessee Valley Authority, where, in addition, 11 women with less training were classified as chemical engineering aids. In the Chemical Corps of the War Department, where 2 women had been employed as engineers during the war and 2 as engineering aids, only 1 woman engineering aid remained at the end of 1946.

Government, as a rule, is a relatively insignificant employer of chemical engineers, more than 90 percent of whom in 1946 were employed in private firms, mostly manufacturing industries (18). Only 7 percent were in Government work, mostly Federal. Less than 2 percent were working in educational institutions in 1943 (53). Undoubtedly, expanding enrollments will increase faculty openings. But in 1947, only 2 women were listed among faculty members in chemical engineering in the catalogs of 42 universities included in a United States Office of Education enrollment sample of 131 institutions of higher education of this type. One was a laboratory assistant and 1 an investigator. The sample would indicate that there are not more than 6 women on chemical engineering faculties throughout the country. In any case, the demand for chemical engineers will rise or fall with industrial needs, especially in

chemical manufacturing and petroleum refining which engaged more than half of all chemical engineers (55). The small proportion of chemical engineers in technical writing and editing suggests the possibility for further development in this type of work for a woman who may choose a desk job following her training.

In most chemical engineering work, whether it be research and development, production, administration, or control work, a considerable amount of work in the plant is involved. One authority included chemical engineering in the classification of "overalls" work, frequently requiring strong arms and mechanical work. This characteristic must be added to the fact that field assignments, shift work, and construction jobs that are often involved tend to limit a woman's usefulness in the eyes of an employer. However, one employer suggests that chemical engineering is valuable background for girls who want to become technical secretaries or assistants to executives, especially in such industries as drugs, foods, textiles, and cosmetics. One head of an engineering school doubts that women will ever be hired as chemical engineers in industry except perhaps in foods and canning. The history of the women trained as chemical engineers bears out these predictions-only a few are working as engineers, and most of these are doing laboratory work. The number who have gone into medical research or organic chemistry indicates the trend for women to specialize in biochemistry and organic chemistry rather than in inorganic and physical chemistry.

In spite of the lack of demand for women as chemical engineers, more women received first degrees in chemical engineering in 1945-46 than in any other branch. (See table 6, p. 5-26.) More than 200 women were also enrolled in undergraduate courses in chemical engineering. After the next few years, during which the prospects for employment are good, the absorption of women will be further complicated by a possible oversupply of men if male enrollments in chemical engineering continue at a high level. In November 1946, they amounted to almost twice the number of engineers employed in 1940. (See tables 7 and 1.) If enrollments continue at a high level, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts keen competition for jobs in this field within a few years (47). However, one woman chemical engineer in 1947 offered a silver lining to the black picture, "Chemical engineering offers the best training for any work in chemistry or allied fields. I feel very strongly that the point of view of the engineer is one of the best things I received as a result of that training. I have found myself automatically doing things and thinking in a practical way where others stumbled around quite a bit." Most women engineers in other branches, too, seem to share this opinion of their training.

SUGGESTIONS TO WOMEN CONSIDERING

ENGINEERING AS AN OCCUPATION

Because women are so small a minority in the field of engineering, where there is also a prevailing preference for men, the young woman who plans to apply for entrance to an engineering school must have superior qualifications. In 1946, a summary of research findings on the qualifications needed for success in engineering training was made by the Veterans Administration for use in its advisement and guidance program (63). Superior aptitude for college work and demonstrated proficiency in mathematics and science are the best indications of success in the study of engineering. Average mechanical aptitude and spatial visualization (the ability to picture in one's mind the space relationships between objects) are also important factors. The coordinator at one accredited engineering school, who reported to the Women's Bureau that "The girls are as good as the boys, some poor, some excellent," explained the equal success of the girls on the basis of high admission requirements. They must be in the upper fifth of their high school class and have 3 years of mathematics plus physics and chemistry. Another school, enthusiastic about its women students, reported that 2 girls led its 1943-44 freshman class of 200.

Not all comments from engineering schools were favorable. One dean of an engineering school complained that most of the women students it had admitted since 1939 had not done very well. Those who entered during the war were affected by glamorous publicity. However, he went on to say that the few women who are really interested will continue to find places in engineering, but in research departments rather than in competitive engineering work. A number of employers also mentioned that tradition makes it difficult to use women in engineering work where they must go into the plant to set up the job. Another dean of an outstanding engineering school which has long admitted women says that those who are really interested and have the ability are very successful. The problem is how to encourage them and at the same time discourage the girls whose interest in engineering is a passing fancy.

During the war, the problem of obtaining well-qualified women for engineering training was analyzed by representatives of an engineering school which previously had not admitted women to its undergraduate courses. Entrance tests given to both men and women indicated that while some women scored as high as men, the women were usually low in both technical knowledge (especially of physics) and space sense. Although women excelled in reasoning, computing, and report writing, only one or two out of 10 women who met the entrance requirements were found to possess suitable aptitudes and interest

for engineering training as compared with about five out of 10 of the men applicants (8). Possibly if more women studied science and mathematics in high school, their ratio might be higher. Even so, it indicates that there are a number of potential engineers among women although they are fewer than among men.

In addition to assurance that she has a fundamental interest in and superior qualifications for engineering, a young woman should be aware of the handicaps she is likely to face and must be ready to overcome or circumvent, if she is to be successful in engineering. A prominent woman industrial engineer, Lillian M. Gilbreth, outlined them in an article on mechanical engineering as follows:

1. Attitudes of family, friends, and schools toward more women going into engineering.

2. Inadequate selection. Wrong women sometimes get in; right ones sometimes stay out. Even the preparatory schools often discourage promising candidates for engineering.

3. Inadequate training in the preparatory schools, in colleges, etc. Even those who admit and give equal opportunities may not have adequate courses. This is especially true in the field of management, as yet the neglected area in the engineering field.

4. Prejudices of employers, technical societies, public.

5. Inadequate "in-service" training.

6. Inadequate promotion.

7. Difficulty of combining marriage with career. This, while less in engineering than in many areas, still exists.

8. A feeling that man should have first call on all jobs.

9. A feeling that man should have first call on engineering jobs. 10. Unemployment and all hazards that men face (21).

Beth Schmid Kerrmann, from her engineering experience, adds to these another which was more noticeable in the thirties when young graduates from engineering were plentiful. At that time young engineers often had to work up from a subprofessional or a skilled job to engineering. This created an additional handicap for women, since many of these entering jobs involved heavier physical labor than most women could safely perform.

Another outstanding woman engineer, Olive Dennis, says, "The field of engineering is still a pioneer one for women." Women who enter it, therefore, need not only talent but the vitality and personality that characterize a pioneer. They will do best if they develop unique specializations in which they have a natural advantage: Engineering related to the styling of consumer products, to household appliances and equipment, and to such products as textiles, clothing, and foods.

The possibility of applying engineering techniques in fields in which women are especially interested has never been fully explored. The woman who received her Ph. D. in 1945-46 from Purdue, specializing in general engineering and home economics, suggests the possibilities

that lie in this direction. A new course at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in biological engineering, developing processes and equipment for medical and biological fields, attracted eight women students in 1946, one of whom planned to enter medical school. A food technology program is also offered. The sound field, including the reduction of vibrations and the absorption of sound to add to efficiency and comfort, is almost wide open according to one woman engineer and offers no particular barriers to women.

Perhaps because so many of the men in engineering have not developed facility in writing, opportunities for women engineers will continue in the writing and editing of reports, in the preparation of operating and training manuals used in engineering departments, and in work for trade journals. Some women trained in engineering may also use their background in such nonengineering jobs as budgeting, cost work, and statistical control. One or two, in the past, have become purchasing agents.

A machine-tool firm recently asked an engineering college to recominend a woman graduate for a position as sales engineer. They wished to try her out on selling their products to purchasing agents, many of whom have little or no mechanical training.

Although women who become engineers may have to adapt themselves to unusual competition from men in the next decade, their status is likely to differ very little from that of the women engineers who have worked in this field in the last 50 years.

It is unlikely that, in the immediate future, many women will make engineering their lifework. For those who do, however, there will be opportunity for the interest, vitality, and talent they must possess to join the successful women pioneers in this profession.