Though women tend to make up more than half of the undergraduate population in Canada, the number of women in engineering is disproportionately low.[17] Whereas in 2001, 21 percent of students in engineering programs were female, by 2009, this had fallen to 17 percent.[17] One commentator attributed this drop to a number of factors, such as the failure of higher education programs to explain how engineering can improve others' lives, a lack of awareness of what engineers do, and discomfort of being in a male-dominated environment and the perception that women must adapt to fit in.[17]