Engineering is a field dominated by men in today's society, for many reasons. When people think about engineering they think about men with glasses and never does a women come to mind. However, there have been many studies on the skills that keep women out of engineering as a career yet there is no proof that women cannot or do not possess the skills needed to be a successful engineer. Therefore, it is thought and stereotyped that women do not have the skills to have an engineering career. Due to the studies and stereotypes the questions then arise as to what makes a good engineer. Many have the same response to the question but not one skill can a women not posses. Women are stereotyped as being dumb just because they are pretty. If a women is not considered pretty she is often thought of as being a smarter than a pretty women . Over all the stereotypes there are some women who have beat the odds. These Women who do have the skills to enter into the field face bias everyday in the field because they are women not because they lack in the required skills. Unfortunately, these reasons that keep women from entering the field of engineering. There have been organizations that spend their time encouraging women to enter into engineering. The Organizations and societies have become so strong and so persuasive that even the company that makes Barbie is coming out with a computer engineering Barbie to attract young girls into the field. The push from the organizations and the drive of the women for success has helped some women to make a breakthrough in the field. Those few women who have overcome many challenges and obstacles in the field have to prove themselves to be looked at with even the slightest bit of respect. These women who ma...
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... if they are. Not only when they have the interest be as a little girl playing with her toy Barbie that says, "math is hard". Research could be done on the math ability of women compared to men. On the contrary, women have groups to encourage them to enter into the field. The groups show that even though women are pushed out of the field they must be important because the societies and organizations exist. Why is it that women are being so strongly pushed out just to be pulled back in by the organization, it's because they are an important aspect to the field. The women who have the drive to enter into the field make huge strides and positive impacts on the field. Over all women may not be what is thought of when talking about engineering, but the women who go through the hardship make a huge impact of the field, causing their existence in the field to be important.
In brief, this article presents a view that women in engineering must enter the field as “conceptual men”. This means that in order to succeed in a male dominated field, women must essentially “become like men”. The article goes on to interview women in the engineering field. In particular, Ranson (2005) interviews women with and without children. This provides differing views of how women in engineering with and without children in engineering have approached their jobs.
Cech, Erin, et al. "Professional Role Confidence and Gendered Persistence In Engineering." American Sociological Review 76.5 (2011): 641, 642,646 Academic Search Premier. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.
Finally, our company should find some ways to boost gender diversity. In the third article “How to boost gender diversity in STEM”, using gender ratio statistics of 14 major tech companies Abby Perkins (2014) showed how serious of the gender diversity. Using ethos, Perkins (2014) mentioned the current trends in U.S. that only a few women are interested in STEM field. Consequently, to increase the diversity for real, it should be taken much earlier – in the education. Then he suggested several specific methods to achieve the gender
In early American history, society believed that women did not have a place in education and high-level learning. They were told not to bother their brains with such advanced thinking. Middle and upper class women learned to read and write, but their education ended there. A woman’s place was said to be in the home, cooking, sewing, and taking care of the children. In the case of upper class women, their “to-do” list was cut even shorter with the servants present to do the work.
Even though women statistically get the good degrees, they still have lesser possibilities in getting a job after graduating. – because of gender performativity women need to act in specific ways in order to even get a job.
Over the years there have been many changes in the work-place. Since the second World War there has been a steady increase of women on the workforce across all the different types of careers there are in the United States. Some careers have seen more of a rapid change than others, a few of the career fields that have not really had much growth in gender diversity have been Engineering and Technology. Both of these fields have always been more male dominate throughout the history of their existence. The problem is that both of these careers demand a constant stream of new innovative ideas to fuel advancements in different types of technology. Those advancements are also very important to the public’s day to day life, as both of these fields are all around us every day. There is no better way to get new ideas than to bring in someone who has a different thought process than you. That is why colleges and companies need to try harder to bring in women to these careers rather than overlook them. With that being said if someone is not right for the job, then they’re not right for the job, the problem is that many companies are choosing male engineers over female engineers. If the careers in these to field want to keep having great advancement, they’re going to need all the great minds that we can get, and stop turning so many away. There has been a lot of research done over this same subject over several years but the results do not seem to be changing, and again and again they always seem to so that men are favored over women when it comes to getting a job in the engineering and technology fields. The problem all boils down to the companies and colleges, both of which need to change so those who desire to excel in these fields, get ...
However, why aren’t many women getting technology jobs? Why it is that STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) jobs are overpowered mostly by men? Again, women are as highly educated as men, so there is no reason why these jobs should be dominated by men. Also, many women are interested in these fields, so it would be a poor answer by saying that mostly men are interested in STEM jobs. For instance, I would love to have a job in the IT field. However, this entire situation seems unfair, because it seems as though society favor men more for these positions than women. If you ask me, I’ll say this is a prime example of
Women have to face problems because of their gender. In the article “Sexism a problem in Silicon Valley, critics says,” LA Times, October 24, 2013, Jessica Guynn mentions that discrimination against women exists in the technology companies because of their gender. Some women that work at tech companies have been sexually threatened and death threats. Some technology companies do not have any senior women because women are not as well promoted as men are. Many women decide not to study to become engineers as result women are not as prominent in the technology workplace. Technology companies have problems with gender.
Also, the majority of women have been able to secure employment from traditionally female occupations such as teaching compared to male-dominated careers like engineering. Moreover, democratic country like the United States of America has recognized gender inequality as a fundamental issue and espouse equal right between men and women in contributing to social, economic and cultural life. Despite this improvement, gender inequality persists as women are not represented and treated equally in the workplace (Michialidis, Morphitou, & Theophylatou, 2012). The increasing number of women in the workplace has not provided equal opportunity for career advancement for females due to the way women are treated in an organization and the society. Also, attaining an executive position seem impossible for women due to the glass ceiling effects which defines the invisible and artificial barrier created by attitudinal and organizational prejudices, which inhibit women from attaining top executive positions (Wirth
Within living memory, young women who have wanted to study engineering faced such dissent that in 1955, Penn State’s dean of engineering declared, “Women are NOT for engineering,” asserting that all but a few “unusual women” lacked the “basic capabilities” necessary to succeed in this profession (Bix par. 2). Although the number of women in social sciences and humanities has grown steadily, women remain underrepresented in science and engineering. Bureau of Labor Statistics states that “women remain underrepresented in engineering constituting only 10 percent of full-time employed engineers and 7.7 percent of engineering managers...” Although this is the case, social norms, culture and attitudes play a significant role in undermining the role of women in the aforementioned fields in addition to the gendered persistence and their individual confidence in their ability to fulfill engineering roles.
If one takes a closer look at the issues surrounding the differences between the male and female roles in the workforce and in education, one will notice that women tend to be one step below men on the "status" or "importance" ladder.
STEM is best known as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. STEM for many years has been primarily seen as and stereotyped into a masculine work field. But as of recent years, while it expands, more and more women have been rising in these fields. However, there is still a tremendous gender gap between men and women in these fields and areas of work. The gender gap between men and women in STEM is alive and well. There is no denying that the gender gap between men and women in STEM is immense. But there instead are many sufficient reasons as to why there is such a huge gap between men and women within in fields. Some probable causes for the lack of women seen in these areas are biased towards women, unconscious bias girls receive
Girls are seen as caring, nurturing, quiet, and helpful. They place other’s needs above their own. Girls get ahead by hard work, not by being naturally gifted. Boys are seen as lazy, but girls are seen as not capable. In class, teacher will call on boys more than they call on girls. Boys are seen as better at math and science; while girls are better at reading and art. This bias is still at work even out of the classroom. There are more males employed at computer firms than women. The ratio of male to female workers in STEM fields is 3-1. In college, more women major in the humanities than in the sciences. In education, women are often seen as lesser than; even though 65% of all college degrees are earned by women. Women are still often seen as needing to be more decorative than intellectual, as represented by the Barbie who included the phrase, “Math is hard!” and the shirt that JC Penneys sold that said, “I’m too pretty to do homework, so my brother has to do it for me.” While there was a backlash on both items, it points out that there is a great deal of work to do on the educational gender bias to be
It will be one of the luckiest things in the world if people could just do what they love in their careers, and pursue their dreams without any fears or worries about how society and others judge them. However, women in this society do not obtain the same rights that men own; many inequalities hinder women to live and work. From this class, I learned a lot about gender affects work, and women and men’ roles can be very different in the work. In many industries, even though women get same education and professional degrees as men do, they are hired at lower rates than men are. Many women meet glass ceilings and find it is hard to attain the highest status in the profession, and this causes the society locks women out of higher level
Call me a bigot if you want but men are better mathematicians than women. Year after year, men score higher on the SAT’s, more men receive prestigious educations from the best technical schools in the nation, and men obtain more degrees, secure more jobs and get promoted more often. “The ETS report on students taking the SAT examinations indicates that males have traditionally scored 40-50 points higher on the mathematics section” (Women) “In 1996, California Institute of Technology’s enrollment was 75% male, Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s enrollment was 62% male, Renssalear Polytechnic Institute’s enrollment was 77% male, Rochester Institute of Technology’s enrollment was is 68% male, and Worchester Institute of Technology’s enrollment was 79% male” (Baron’s). The future for women who enter the work place as mathematicians is no more encouraging. “Roughly three times as many women are unemployed and six times as many women are in part time positions. The female mathematicians who acquire these full time jobs are less likely than men to be promoted to a position such as full or associate professor” (awm-math.org). Females’ lack of success as mathematicians has nothing to do with their mathematical potential. The reason females do not excel in mathematical fields can be explained by high school course selection, social pressures and support and not by genetic differences.