The challenges in gender-related learning technical courses are a well-known universal phenomenon. According to the Global Society of Women Engineers, only 24.2% of engineers are women. Women think getting ahead in a male-dominated field as a person of a marginalized gender is not an easy task. But it’s not true that women can’t find success in roles played in the popular Technical Engineering fields.
Engineering and technology are prerequisites for any country’s economic and industrial growth and development. This situation creates significant demand for engineering education to evolve, so it demands more undergraduates to opt for engineering fields. Engineering is considered a “rewarding career” with the rapid evolution in social and technological changes.
Engineering stereotypes and gender-stereotype go head-to-head in society. Engineering is perceived as a too hard, masculine, dirty, and noisy profession. In contrast, according to Gender-stereotype, females are perceived as inferior, weak, fragile, and endless-intellectually-capable, proving gender underrepresentation in engineering education. Of course, the work is needed to be done here.
The following is a common list of a few challenges; a woman may face in the industry and is to overcome all these with her capabilities.
1. Make your voice heard
The ability to make yourselves heard and understood within the organization justifies your credibility. Participating and providing your input in the project, discussions, and conferences are crucial.
2. Never Underestimate Yourself
Never think of yourself as lesser than anyone around you. Volunteer for projects that you think comes into your forte. Know when to seize an opportunity and utilize the chance maximum.
3. Set boundaries around work
Engineering roles can be demanding—but, as with any job, it’s essential to try and maintain a work-life balance. The intent here is not to push yourself into being a bondsman of your job. You must provide yourself and your career with the required ratio of time. Always remember you and your time needs to be respected.
4. Fearing the self-threat of not fitting-in
As IT is considered a male dominant sector, a constant fear of not fitting into this will always stay in your mind. Don’t slow down your improvement based on societal norms and can be nurtured by corporations of all
5. Acknowledgment
Always believe that you did a great job and be consistent with your work even without the proper acknowledgment you expected to receive. Acknowledge yourself, and the growth will certainly make you followed with the profound acknowledgment in time.
6. Pressurizing Yourselves
Stop carrying the pressure of changing the whole perception of working women portrayed in society based on your performance. Your performance should serve as the primary motive for your development and growth.
7. Casual Sexism
As the industry is a dominant male sector, there is some sexism because of the misogynist elements still present in society. It would certainly help and motivate you if you stood up for any harassment or discrimination (if any). If you aren’t standing up to it, you’re encouraging it, rather than supporting.
The challenges are too many. There’s work to be done with more men than women entering the industry, it’s statistically probable that more men may climb to the top. But, given the same opportunities, women are also capable of heading up into projects, departments, and companies within the engineering sector also.
No field in engineering is good or bad for females. Engineering should be pursued by choice and interests, not by gender-specific reasons. Engineering is a field with massive diversity, so the domain should be based on interests rather than any sexist opinions. If we see in India, the statistics are Computer science (45.76 %) is the most popular branch among girls, followed by Electronics (34.57 %), Electrical (14.3 %), Mechanical (3.72%), and Civil (1.59%) engineering.
Though the gender gap is the whole narrowing, an invisible barrier that prevents women from raising their grades to the top still exists, and, yet inequalities exist. The ‘old’ barriers stopping a woman from progressing are disappearing, but Companies now encourage and support female engineers to reach their full potential.
The workplace thrives on diversity. Apart from demanding creativity and innovation, Engineering provides an opportunity to bring out the skills you learn to solve problems in the world. The possibilities are endless for women in Engineering. From Data scientists to Automobiles, Engineer women are exceeding in every field.
An engineering degree equips you with essential skills for a good way of living. There are many opportunities for women in this field to organize their working hours to suit them, so life as an engineer can also offer great flexibility. Equal representation is significant in engineering, as engineers design products and solve problems that affect the world. The advances will be immense in engineering if men and women work together.