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Considering the possibility that not all majors value mechanical, technical, and design
abilities equally (as suggested by some of the students), we looked at the difference in
self-confidence in these abilities by major (Figure IID-3). Indeed, there are great
variations in self-confidence in these abilities by major for the female students: females
majoring in mechanical engineering have much higher self-confidence in their
mechanical, technical and design abilities than do female students in other majors. For
males, however, major makes much less of a difference. In fact, the gender gap in this
kind of self-confidence is reversed for mechanical engineering majors – the females in
this major have higher self-confidence in their abilities than do the males; but for all other
majors, the males have higher self-confidence in their abilities. The small numbers of
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