The disciplines that experienced the highest proportion of female undergraduate enrolment in 2018 were biosystems engineering (51.3 per cent), environmental engineering (43.7 per cent), and chemical engineering (39.8 per cent).

The disciplines with the lowest percentages of female undergraduate enrollment were software engineering (14.3 per cent), mechanical engineering (14.6 per cent), and mining and mineral engineering (14.6 per cent). While these three disciplines account for 31.6 per cent of the total number of undergraduate students, they only account for 21.0 per cent of the total number of female undergraduate students.

Furthermore, the disciplines that presented the highest growth in the proportion of female students from 2017 were biosystems engineering, software engineering, and mechanical engineering, which rose 37.6 per cent, 25.1 per cent and 14.6 per cent in 2018, respectively. 

Similarly, the disciplines that experienced the highest growth in the proportion of female students from 2014 were software engineering, computer engineering and biosystems engineering, which rose 122.3 per cent, 111.7 per cent and 101.1 per cent in 2018, respectively.

Reference: Engineers Canada

Female undergraduate enrolment remained above 20 per cent in 2018, with a 0.2 per cent increase from 21.8 per cent in 2017 to 22.0 per cent in 2018. The total number of females enrolled in undergraduate-level engineering programs has increased by 14.5 per cent since 2017 and 44.2 per cent since 2014.

Reference: Engineers Canada