Work in progress - gender parity success in the Civil Engineering department at Kuwait University

In recent years, studies have shown that the percentages of female undergraduates, faculty, and administrators has been increasing. However, many engineering fields continue to have low female percentages. In the College of Engineering at Kuwait University an observable exception exists. As of spring 2001, over 62 percent of the Civil Engineering undergraduates were females, while around six percent of the faculty were females. This high females percentage has been increasing, reaching a peak in the academic year 2004-2005. To investigate the local factors contributing to the Civil Engineering Department gender parity, a pilot study was conducted. A survey was used on a random sample of 104 undergraduates. The study revealed many interesting outcomes, some of which were that 64.4 percent of the study sample thought that there was inequality in treatment between genders, of them 56.7 percent thought that males were treated better. The study also found that females perceive the Civil Engineering field as very interesting.