When I was a kid--and I'm 70--shop was an ELECTIVE by Grade 9. I took typing instead.  (Hey, knew I'd be a writer, and well, the typewriter was the tool of the trade, right?)  Girls did similarly (I was one of just 3 guys in the typing class; there was also shorthand, too, and biz math. Girls excelled in both.) 

None of the girls in my graduating class of '64 went into Engineering...at any university.  Some do today.  Progress, no?