The Challenges of Women in Engineering
"The application of scientific principles to practical ends as the design,
construction, and operation of efficient and economical structures, equipment, and
systems."(1) This is a dictionary definition of engineering. Engineering is a noble
profession that touches nearly every facet of daily life. It is also a profession
that has historically been difficult for women to enter into and be successful at.
What are the challenges facing women in engineering? The most prevalent
challenge is a result of gender discrimination. Societies of the world have typically
channeled females into roles that are traditionally "female". Some traditional
female roles would include careers in teaching, art (culinary, design, etc.), history,
and homemaking. Math and science are traditionally male areas of study, even in k-
12 education. Girls have not been encouraged to enter these areas and when they
have, they have been evaluated more critically than their male counterparts.
Statistics indicate that in 1991, 17% of first year entrants to engineering
(1)
degree courses were women.(2) Other studies cite that only 9% of American
engineers are women and only 20% of engineering degrees are earned by women.(3)
Studies from Ireland indicate a similar low trend where 20% of female students
are in engineering, but they have high drop rates, low retention, and low promotion
rates in later careers.(4)
Discrimination of females in engineering is not limited to students, but also
to faculty of engineering programs. A large study completed by the Massachuset
Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1996 and amended in 1997 and 1998 indicates
that discrimination was high within the faculty of the MIT. In 1994, there were
only 22 tenured female faculty at MIT versus male tenured faculty of 252.(5)
Female faculty were found to have endured a wide disparity with their male
counterparts in salary, space, resources for research, named chairs, prizes,
awards, amount of salary paid from individual grants, teach obligations and
assignments, committee assignments (department, institute, outside professional
activities and committees, pipeline data), numbers of women/men students, and
faculty overtime. Steps have been implemented to resolve this discrimination and
more recent findings have indicated an increase in number of tenured women
faculty in addition to improvements in the other areas mentioned.
(2)
Competent engineers need to have several key areas of skill: 1) critical and
creative thinking, 2) aptitude in the math and science disciplines, 3) the ability to
Ranson (2005) begins the paper by noting that motherhood leads women to leave their jobs in engineering (p. 146). What she fails to do is provide evidence on how this is true. Furthermore, in the article the author mentions that motherhood is an obstruction to a women’s career, yet the article fails to provide evidence as to why this is true. It is also mentioned by the author that family friendly policies that have been introduced in engineering are not helping the women in engineering (Ranson, 2005, p. 149). Ranson (2005) fails to state examples of how this is true and does not draw on specific policies th...
“Sexist discrimination in STEM is such incredibly old news that it is a serious wonder we have not discovered the words “Women cannot be trusted to add” in cave paintings.”(JR Thorpe)
In an excerpt titled "The Feminist Face of Antitechnology" from his 1981 book Blaming Technology, Samuel C. Florman explains why he thinks so few educated women in modern society are engineers. The excerpt was written shortly after he had visited an all-female liberal arts school, Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, to convince a few young women to become engineers. His mission failed and his essay makes clear why he had such trouble.
Today’s college students have the opportunity and freedom to choose their major and their career path. Many factors influence the decision of a college student’s career paths including background, general interests, personal strengths, time commitment, and job outlook. Although many important decisions are made in college, one of the most important is the choice of major and career track. Out of hundreds of majors the science and engineering fields are under-represented by women. Although the numbers of women in science technology, engineering, and mathematics, STEM, majors has been increasing in the past years, women still are in the minority in the STEM fields. In her study, Lona Whitmarsh concluded, “that career opportunities for women have widened,” but “not enough change has occurred to show significant differences between the overall population” (49). It is good that more women are entering these fields, but there are still not enough young women aspiring to fill the gaps. Further statistics show that female representation in engineering continues to be low, “in 2008 only 19 percent of bachelor’s degrees, 22.9 percent of masters, and 14.8 percent of PhDs in engineering were awarded to women” (Bystydzienski 2). Although there has been a general increase of women entering the fields of science and mathematics, overall the numbers are still low, showing that women struggle in pursuing a degree within these fields, and that many factors can lead to a female not choosing to begin or complete college in a STEM major. Women are in the minority of STEM fields.
We found literature that supported our survey results. The article, “Inequality quantified: Mind the gender gap,” shows that an established gender gap amongst college majors may have started years ago. In the 1970s, Lynne Kiorpes was one of the few females at Northeastern University who was an Engineering major. Her professor discriminated against her and the other few women in the class by saying that they have no business being in his class, and that he was going to fail them just because they are females. Kiorpes then left the engineering program...
When reading “An Engineering Career: Only a Young Person’s Game?” by Robert N. Charette, we are able to grasp the meaning behind the half-life engineering knowledge and how it affects the general engineer in the workplace. Charette also provides other articles that will give tips on how to use lifelong learning to counter the effect of becoming obsolete in your knowledge.
Throughout the years, males have dominated the academic disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) with very few females finding their way in the mix (Steinberg, Okun, & Aiken, 2012). Those females enrolling in the STEM majors soon find themselves questioning why they have, and many quickly change their majors to more female-accepting professions (Steele, James, & Barnett, 2002). The view that women lack the intellect to succeeded in STEM disciplines has been a prevailing one for much of history (Cadinu, Maass, Rosabianca, & Kiesner, 2005). Many researchers have questioned whether it is social stigma impeding female success or indeed basic biological differences that make males are more successful in these fields than women (Smith, Sansone, & White, 2007).
Gender diversity may be less about adapting to the modern roles in construction, as it is about managers adapting the way they value, function and manage their resources within a modern construction project. Aecom’s paper 'Global Engineering, Design and Construction Gender Diversity Survey' displays the current status of gender diversity trends among firms in the global construction industry. Gender mainstreaming is a conception that addresses the wellbeing of men and women. There is significant evidence that establishes that organizations in a westernized construction industry have identified gender equality as an importance within a professional environment. Each project is unique and every day can present new challenges, the industry benefits from a variety of perspectives and background including the viewpoints of both genders. Although; this differs around the world due to the cultural differences and values of several other nations.
Initially, the first women entering the workplace did so out of desire. In a post feminist, post-civil right era and spurred on by higher levels of education. Women saw jobs and careers as rights that had previously been denied to them. Women were tired of just being "Big Johns Wife" or "Little Johnny's mommy". They wanted to be known the way men have always identified themselves by their jobs, their careers, and the level of success to which they had risen. Status, not salary, was the prime mover of the first wave of women to assault the previously all male worlds of medicine, and the corporate citadel
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.
There has been a study assessing the career preference of men and women, the study found that men are more attracted towards masculine job while women show no preference. This study also shows that men are more sensitive to gender stereotyping (Barth & Guadagno & Rice & Eno & Minney, 2015). The results of this study supports that men experience heavier social pressure and expectations to conform to society’s standards of masculinity. In addition, Current outcomes of studies highlights the underrepresentation of women in the field of STEM. Interestingly, while many women show interest in this field, only few would consider pursuing this option (Beede et al. 2011). This may be caused by women’s tendency to prioritize factors such as marriage, family, and helping others in choosing a career option, as jobs in the field of STEM are less accommodating to employees that are family oriented (Ceci et al. 2009). Expected themes seem to manifest in these data. There is a trend showing that both men and women’s career choice are somehow influenced by gender expectations and roles.
Plato once said “If women are expected to do the same work as men, we must teach them the same things” (Ferrari & Griffth, 2000). However, in today’s world women are more educated than men, bigger risk takers, and more adaptable to our modern socioeconomic trends. Yet women in the workforce still face daily struggles in acceptance. In this essay we will explore gender in the workforce, the changing nature of that workforce, gender inequalities and what measures are being taken in correcting and modelling a new working environment. We will see that more than often women are faced with the choice of maternal instincts over career options. Moreover we will see that when faced with this choice and electing the career path, women will face obstacles including bias and traditional roles.
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 ...
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.
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