Opinion: Erasing the stigma

Photo courtesy Calvin.edu.

Photo courtesy Calvin.edu.

While women make up half of the college-educated work force, they only make up 29 percent of the science and engineering workforce. About 20 percent of the engineering graduates are female. The Society of Women Engineers estimates that one in four women leave the engineering field by the age of 30, compared to only one in ten males. The result is only about 9 percent of the engineering workforce is female. A study conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) shows that women find the field less appealing because of negative team dynamics.

“More specifically, the study finds, women often feel marginalized, especially during internships, other summer work opportunities, or team-based educational activities,” writes Peter Dizikes, a sociologist at MIT .

“In those situations, gender dynamics seem to generate more opportunities for men to work on the most challenging problems, while women tend to be assigned routine tasks or simple managerial duties.”

As a female engineering student, I believe that a positive view toward female engineers is the only way to attract and keep women in the engineering field. I do not think Calvin is an exception to this.

Both of my parents have degrees in engineering, so the thought of becoming an engineer was completely normal to me. I had never thought much about the gender difference within the field…until I got to Calvin.

I knew there would be more men than women, but I was still surprised by the contrast. The challenging part came when some of the girls I sat by in class and did homework with switched majors after the first semester. As I saw other girls switching majors, it made me question whether I was in the right major also.

Many times an offhanded comment or joke that seems harmless, can be taken personally because there is already a level of discomfort with being a gender minority. I’ve been told before “I bet you only got that A because you sucked up to the professor”, “you only got that internship because you’re a girl”- and jokes about me giving sexual favors to professors in return for good grades.

Last year, one student walked into the engineering lab complaining about this “dumb girl engineer” he had to work with. Why did he have to point out the fact she was a girl when he made degrading comments about her? I am sure that no one has purposefully tried to make female engineering students uncomfortable, but we must be careful with how we address each other. With about a one to five female to male ratio in the Calvin Engineering program, poorly timed jokes aren’t making girls feel any more welcome.

Small changes in vocabulary or habits can make a big change on how we subconsciously view gender roles. Instead of asking female engineering students “so do you think you will stick with engineering?” can we ask “oh that’s awesome that you’re an engineering major, what concentration are you thinking?”