The paper analyzes the factors that are responsible for gender discrimination in the employment and earnings of engineering graduates in India. It has used the data collected in 2009-10 through a survey among the fourth year students in Delhi who have gone through the placement exercise. The author finds, among other things, that a smaller percentage of women engineering graduates than men have got job offer and it varies widely across socio-economic settings. Also, it is found that the offered earnings of women are about 54 per cent less than that of men. The results provide strong and consistent evidence that institutional factors account for a sizable portion of the employment and earnings gap between male and female graduates, with type of institution (government/private) contributing a large part of it. There is no significant difference in the employment of students by their branch of study (traditional/IT-related) but it has a role to play in the offered earnings of the graduates. The study suggests in minimising the gender discrimination in terms of employment and earnings of engineering graduates that may increase the access of females to this discipline.
Keywords: Engineering Education; Gender Discrimination; Employment; Earnings; India
JEL Classification Code: I21, J21, J31, J71