Recruitment

The changing of the gender landscape at Poly to the landscape present at Tandon today definitely was not an overnight task. In the 1960s the number of female engineering graduates in the US was very low, however this began to show improvement in the 1970s. In the 1960s period, even though the Polytechnic Institute was seen as decent when it came to numbers of female graduates, the school could not compare to other universities such as Georgia Tech who boasted three times more women graduates.

The 1970s period saw a significant climb in female enrollment in engineering in the US. A survey conducted by the Society of Woman Engineers found that there was a rise of over 200% in the number of women enrolled in U.S engineering schools from 1967-68 to 1972-73. At the Polytechnic Institute, there were 77 women enrolled in the fall of 1972 which rose to 134 in the fall of 1974. Even though there was indeed growth, the number of women at the Polytechnic were still not impressive in comparison to other schools and the US in general. The Polytechnic University therefore  employed strategies and marketing tactics to increase their numbers and recruit women on campus. A few of the strategies used by Poly included acknowledging the concerns that women had regarding choosing engineering as a major. This involved addressing the many stereotypes involved with women in the engineering field. In recruitment drives and advertising functions, the Institute distributed many pamphlets and brochures to prospective students where the contents welcomed women to attend the university.

One such advertising strategy published by the Polytechnic University is an advertising brochure in the 1970s is named "A Woman's World". The brochure sets a welcoming tone for women readers by higlighting the 5 brilliant female faculty members at the university.

The document also goes onto address some of the stereotypes that surrounded the idea of women in engineering. However it is interesting to note that the Institute decided to refer to some of these as myths. For example in a section of the brochure named "Myths Exploded", it explained that as the demand for engineers were on the increase, women engineers found jobs even more easily than men in many other professional fields. In fact one of the selling points in this section was that outstanding women may have a better chance at securing promotions and salary simply due to the fact that she is a "woman". These statement address  typical concerns for women considering pursuing the course of study since obtaining employment as a woman engineer was a known challenge. However even though these statements are welcoming they are not backed by any statistics or supporting information. This advertising technique used by the Polytechnic Institute seems to be very opiniated and can be interpreted as misleading since the conditions existing for women engineers at the time could have presented some very valid arguments.

The section does however goes on to acknowledge that there were some obstacles for women in the traditionally male field of engineering but highlights that much progress has been made. Another section of the brochure titled "Feminine versus Masculine" emphasised that, "even though engineering is male dominated this does not mean that the jobs cannot be done "(or even better) by females."

A Woman's World" also goes on to discuss the job market and salaries existing for women in the engineering field in the 1970s. Stating many percentages and statistics the section discussed the rising demand for engineers and the average monthly salaries for women engineering graduates at the bachelor's and master's level. The brochure also touches on the benefits of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 which allowed women to have starting salaries comparable or even higher than men.

The Polytechnic Institute also used this brochure to highlight the career possibilities and research opportunities available to Polytechnic graduates. These included exciting careers as geologists, technicians, chemists, physicists and statisticians. 

As dicussed earlier in this study, one of the major concerns that society had when it came to women in engineering was their ability to manage their career with their family life. The Polytechnic Institute identified this issue as particularly important and dedicated an entire page of the brochure to addressing this. The section titled "Career & Marriage" discussed that many women combine a professional career with marriage and family. It also states the possibility of job flexibility when having children. It is interesting to note that these statements do not specifically refer to women in the engineering field.