Well, as early as the age of 8 I knew I wanted to pursue a career in Engineering. I loved math and sciences from school, got motivation from my dad (who wasn’t an Engineer) but who time and again told me I could be one and took the initiative to guide me through. Was it easy getting where I am as a graduate Engineer? Oh, well, it wasn’t as hard. I had the privilege of being educated and at the same time got immense support from my father. However, throughout working to achieve this goal, I’ll admit never once came across a female Engineer. When we got to college, it became even more real to me that this was indeed a male dominated field! The ratio of men to women in the department was so huge and I couldn’t help but ask myself if I had made the right choice.
Some
of the setbacks to women in this industry include;
1.
Gender Stereotype
One of the major challenges is gender
stereotype. Engineering is known to be a male dominated field. It is a
technical hence viewed as masculine making women to tend to shy from it. Most
don’t even believe they can make it in such a field.
2.
Engineering Culture
The working conditions for most Engineering
jobs tend to be unfavorable for women as it involves long period of time away
from home. Women find it hard to get back to the workforce as they are the ones
who take breaks to offer caregiving to family. Creating a culture that supports
good work-life balance would be critical for women in STEM. Studies show that
more female Engineering graduates tend to quit and change their careers along
the way compared to men.
3.
Lack of adequate mentorship
There’s lack of adequate mentorship for
young girls as they grow. Society tends to push the girl child towards
developing interest in arts and boys towards sciences. This results in lower
rate of females enrolling for Engineering programs hence the disparity of women
to men Engineers in the workforce. Successful women in STEM need to come out
and offer mentorship to young girls who want to take the same courses.
According to Engineers Board of Kenya, only 7.3% of registered Engineers are
women.
4.
Harassment and Intimidation
Men also feel intimidated by women in these
spaces which should not be the case. This makes them harass and demotivate
women who want to be or are already in STEM. Female engineers face challenges
of not being taken seriously by their male counterparts who look down upon
them. In advocating for women in STEM, men need to be involved to encourage
their sisters and daughters that yes it is doable.
The ancient thinking that STEM is for men
needs to be done away with. Women have taken up spaces in entertainment and
other industries so well. The same can happen in STEM. Women play a critical
role in diversifying STEM by including their ideas and designs in providing
smart sustainable solutions for challenges faced by mankind as more than half
of the population is women.
Author: Okondo Paul
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