As the need for engineering professionals grows, educators and industry leaders are increasingly concerned with how to attract women to a traditional male career.

Traditional roles of women in the home and a negative bias in workplace support result in less career success for women versus men at the same stage of their research careers, determined researchers at the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) in a study appearing in the November 2007 issue of EMBO reports.

Nearly one in three of the 400 largest public companies headquartered in California – including household names Apple, Callaway Golf and Skechers USA – have no women at the top, according to a study reported today by University of California, Davis, researchers. At the other end of the spectrum, five firms, led by the Los Angeles-based Nara Bancorp, have women in 35 percent to 46 percent of their top posts.

According to the National Center for Women & Information Technology, the percentage of female Computer Science undergraduates at major research universities in the United States has declined from 37 percent in 1985 to 14 percent in 2006.

Recruiters wanting to hire women for information technology positions have to go beyond the typical sales pitch emphasizing job promotion and security in order to get results, according to a Penn State research study of 92 female IT practitioners.