Courses that emphasize the beneficial applications of technology and engineering Will increase the appeal of engineering programs to women. Examples include solving environmental problems with appropriate technology, inventing tools and equipment for people with disabilities, designing and constructing safe highways, and developing people-friendly technologies for use in hospitals.

All engineering students also need to understand the complex nature of technological decision making and that the best solutions are based on a blend of technological, political and societal values. Engineering faculty members should be made responsible for incorporating social context and human values in their technical courses. Social context reflects gender differences and cultural diversity.

The CCWE also suggests that a committee or committees be appointed to review the social context of existing and new courses. A balanced and diverse review would be ensured by a gender-balanced committee that includes representatives of engineering, humanities, and social sciences faculties. The participation of humanities and social sciences faculty is particularly important in reviews of engineering profession, engineering ethics, and engineering and society courses.

The numbers of women in engineering may not increase substantially unless the curriculum is made more relevant to them, that is, less masculine and more reflective of societal needs. Some studies suggest that the grades of women engineering students drop more, at least initially, than the grades of their male classmates because women are putting their energies into adjusting to a male environment (Pomfret and Gilbert, CCWE Conference) and to a masculine curriculum (Menzies, Ottawa Forum; Usher and Ward, CCWE Conference).

Faculties of engineering and the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB) should incorporate feminine perspectives in the engineering curriculum. The curriculum and all related materials (textbooks, lab assignments, examination questions, illustrations, case studies and problems) should be gender-inclusive. Of utmost importance is the creation of an engineering curriculum that is relevant to women's experiences and that includes the achievements of women engineers and scientists.

Engineering faculty should become familiar with scholarship on gender bias, and on women's experiences and history. To facilitate the integration of women's perspectives in the engineering curriculum, researchers in women's studies should be encouraged to share their insights and discoveries with those who teach engineering and develop engineering textbooks and teaching materials.

Work-experience, work-study and co-op programs are designed to give engineering students opportunities to practice what they learn in the classroom in the workplace and to apply textbook theories in actual situations. Work experience also enables students to relate educational interests to career objectives. Although work-experience programs do not suit all students, they may provide women engineering students with valuable experiences that may encourage them to continue in their studies.

Many women engineering students first encounter discrimination and harassment during their work/study placements. In the Committee's view, such incidents are a profound deterrent, and all students need to be aware of their rights in the workplace. Prior to placement in the workplace, all students should participate in an orientation program that defines workplace harassment, reviews university harassment policies and explains how students can make complaints. Work-experience coordinators, whether faculty advisors or full-time staff, also need to be aware of harassment, discrimination and employers' expectations if they are to advise and counsel students appropriately.

The experiences of students should be reviewed following their work-terms. Students should be required to complete a comprehensive questionnaire and given opportunities to share their experiences with other work-experience students and the coordinator.

It is important that employers understand their responsibility to ensure that work-experience students are not subjected to discriminatory behavior, and that future placements will not be made at sites that do not provide an environment free of discrimination and harassment. Deans of engineering should inform work-experience placement employers that the faculty has procedures to handle complaints of workplace harassment, and has advised students to use them. Deans must also develop and implement a mechanism to follow-up inequities and other unacceptable situations with senior officials of the employing organization. We also suggest that students be made aware of firms that have demonstrated support for hiring and advancing women engineers.

Engineering educators should examine work/experience programs to determine their effect on the progression and attrition of women engineering students.

At our public forums, faculty, students and engineers expressed concern about the heavy workload of engineering students and the tendency to weed students out rather than to develop and support them. Concern was also expressed that inflexible programs at some universities allow students very little choice in course selection. It was also noted that students may use very little of what they learn in the classroom once they are out in the workforce. Some called for out-dated information to be removed to free up time for more relevant information, such as problem-solving and communication skills.

Faculties of engineering and the CEAB should review the academic workload of engineering programs in consultation with employers of engineers; where students' workload is deemed unreasonably heavy, it should be reduced. Some universities already offer flexible programs that allow students to complete their studies in four to seven years.