After I watched the TED talk given by Debbie Sterling about inspiring the next generation of women engineers, (link is at the bottom, I definitely recommend watching it), I was surprised by the experiences she went through being a female studying engineering. As I myself am a female student currently studying engineering, I found myself really interested in everything she was saying in her TED talk and decided to do some research for my blog post this week.
When I Google searched “women in engineering” one of the very first things that popped up was an article from NPR talking about the lack of female engineers in today’s society. The article was mainly addressing the reason why almost forty percent of women either switch from engineering to something else or decide at an early age they will never be an engineer. This was really surprising to me because even though I don’t know many girls who took an interest in engineering, I didn’t think there was a significant reason for girls to feel differently towards this field.
After reading this article my perspective changed. I realized that not only are young girls naturally inclined to not show an interest in engineering but even women who choose to pursue engineering end up changing their mind because of the male dominated work climate. In the NPR, the workplace for engineering was actually referred as an “old boys club.” A civil engineer explains from her experience why she believes women leave engineering, “Women leave engineering due to lack of job satisfaction, lack of reliable female role models, inflexible work schedules, workplace discrimination, white mid-western men syndrome, and glass ceiling issues.” Now, the fact that it is 2015, and women experience the glass ceiling effect is very discouraging to me. I find the engineering workplace specifically surprising because engineering is all about having an idea and creating anything you want based on that idea. Women are not incapable of doing this; this is not something that men should have an advantage over. Engineering is also all about expansion of technology and expanding into the future and if women can’t even feel equal in the workforce how can leaders in these fields believe that they are moving towards the future.
I do believe however, that we cannot blame the lack of female engineers strictly on an unequal workplace. One of the biggest problems is that there is a serious lack of interest in girls at a young age towards engineering. This is an idea that Debbie Sterling talked about and is essentially what led her to success. She developed a toy for young girls, GoldieBlox, which is a toy intended to appeal the idea of “engineering” to girls at an early age. The toy is colorful and girly yet promotes a liking for a strong skill set of STEM related ideas.
It is easy for a girl in high school or her early college years to already feel discouraged about pursuing engineering. This can be due to the lack of any early engineering related experience or lack of confidence in the subject. I can personally relate to this; it is hard to feel confident in a class when boys, who seem to already have an advantage over you, dominate the majority of the class. This is why I can understand why the younger the age that a girl finds an interest in STEM related fields, the more likely they will feel like they can pursue it. An article on the AAUW’s website (American Association of University Women) also addressed the need for more women in STEM fields. They suggested four ways we can inspire girls to pursue these fields: give her a hero, invest in her imagination, watch language used about STEM fields, and get her involved with like-minded girls. I think these four suggestions send a clear message on how we can influence young girls to feel like they can be successful in the engineering or STEM workplace. While there is still an issue with women today not being accepted into this workplace, it can be better for the upcoming generation of women. I agree that there is a solution by starting girls young. There needs to be a confidence instilled in their minds that allow them to be empowered by these science and math related ideas. There also needs to an equal line drawn between men and women when it comes to their skills and abilities to succeed in these fields. I have hope that a solution can be found but I believe it is up to our generation and older generations to inspire young girls that haven’t yet had to experience a gender inequality in the class and in the workforce.
http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/can-toys-create-future-engineers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEeTLopLkEo
http://www.aauw.org/2014/02/11/introduce-girls-to-engineering/
I find this very interesting. When I was in high school last year, I decided to read “Lean In: by Sheryl Sandberg. Honestly, it was the best thing I could have done. In her book, she mentions how women naturally do not want to strive for higher successes in their jobs. Sure, there are some women who are the exception, but for the most part, women wish to raise their families more than they wish to become a CEO of a company.
She also has a chapter on the glass ceiling effect, which I believe is very real. She talks about how women sometimes feel awkward talking in meetings or giving elevator pitches. They feel like they are over stepping the boundaries of their jobs, but in reality, men do it all the time.
For SHO TIME this year, I read “David and Goliath” by Malcolm Gladwell. If you have ever read his books before, Gladwell chooses to talk of a particular theme while telling a few short stories. One his stories in this book is about a man who was a janitor on Wall Street. This man dreamed of being on the other side of the bathrooms and interacting with the people on the phone, but mostly just making a lot of money. One day, he observed someone who he believed to be the boss leaving the building. The janitor decided to follow the man, and he jumped in his cab before the boss could protest. The man had perfected his elevator pitch and gave it to the boss. They ended up discussing job possibilities for the rest of the ride.
Now, I personally could not picture most women doing this, and I do not believe Sheryl Sanderg could either. It goes back to what I mentioned before, women are cautious. They do not want to lose their jobs for over stepping an imaginary boundary.
Furthermore, a lot of women choose not to go into business due to the lack of male help in the household, as mentioned by Sandberg. This can also be directly applied to engineering. Engineering takes a lot of work. Sometimes it can just take college to finish one’s studies, but sometimes it involves an additional degree, at which point many women have families. I know, for example, my mom was an accountant, and she ended up hating it. After quitting because she had me, she decided that she really like engineering. The only problem was the amount of schooling she had to put in in addition to having a child. I personally believe that this was a stupid reason, and I believe that she should have went back to school to do what she wanted to do. Unfortunately, this is the mentality of many women.
Fortunately though, many women of the Millennial Generation have started to force their way into the work force, and “Lean In”. They are more apt to participate in the workplace, and they are not afraid to challenge the man in charge. I think this may be why we are seeing more female engineers.