Will You Introduce a Girl to Engineering?

I once worked in a refrigeration shop whose pressure vessel engineer was a woman, who did just fine. Omega Engineering and AutoDesk are, or have been, run by women engineers/CEOs. Admittedly they may be a bit unsung, but I bet they are doing quite well. If successes like these can be conveyed to young women entering the field, more power to everybody. (But why does hardly anyone know about these advances?)

Hi Sharkles,

Why not? What's the reason to choose between man and woman when professional needs arrive? Both are with brain and skills. Attitude and personality develop with time in the shop or factory or the jod-site.

Don't need any special "DAY" to hire someone, including woman. We have a requirement for someone competent, that's all, Gil.

I have to wonder how effective these programs are anyways.

I have three girls ages from 15 to 21. Even though I am an engineer at work and at home (projects, auto mechanics, etc), none have shown the slightest interest in the field. My company puts on a great, stimulating bring-your-kid-to-work-day every year with an overall presentation, hands on exercises and competitions, tours of the plant with specific talks from various people through the whole chain from engineering, manufacturing, test, logistics, etc. My kids have gone to these for years, yet the girls still show no interest whatsoever.

My son, no problem. No prodding necessary from me at all. I believe that if girls have an interest in engineering they will find it.

Anyone else have any experiences one way or the other?

(P.S. Not for lack of knowledge or teaching. My youngest daughter's skills in the Tech Ed class at the high school puts most of the boys' skills to shame but she's not interested in the field. She was the only one in her group who knew how to properly engineer the catapult and get it built. Actually, I find it shameful that the level of technical skills and knowledge in the young population in my area is abysmally low. My son has to help out his other male friends with mechanical tasks on their dirt bikes and cars/trucks that we would consider trivial. He's not interested in college so he is headed into the trades.)

I think engineers are born, not made. Male or female, people either gravitate to engineering, or not.

I've got three daughters also, ages 3-30. No interest with the older two, too early to tell with the three year old, although I think she's leaning toward artist, which could translate into some kind of engineering.

I've also got a nephew that is a natural born engineer. It's something to see. From the time he was little, he would go around finding little sticks and scraps in the yard, and the next thing you know, he'd have some kind of working little machine built. He's about 12 now. I look forward to seeing where he ends up. Right now he's fascinated with everything that has to do with weaponry.

During recent years many females prefer engineering profession particularly in IT but still for core branches like Mechanical ,Civil, Electrical there is huge gap. May be as time passes many more females may enter into this profession and lead males.

Sharkles I already have.

My younger daughter is a Civil Engineer with an AD in Road Design and she is now working in Mining and doing the conversion to a Mining degree.

She was always Dad's little helper and knew her way arounfd the workshop machinery from a young age.

I think you'd be suprised at how many females are already in engineering, I know of at least 10 and that's just those I've had classes with and doesn't include me.

As for one of the comments saying that most go into IT, I'd have to disagree, most of the female engineers I know are areonautical engineers or automotive engineers (strangly no mechanical engineers). I'd say that is the electrical engineering sector that has the least number of female engineers.

When I first decided to become an engineer I did get a lot of sexist comments (some were just playing around), but as I've progressed I've become more accepted. I'm no longer singled out because of my gender when I'm attending classes. It would have been nice if people around me when I was younger were more supportive of my career choice, but in the end the people who mattered supported me and have helped me get to where I am today.

In all, I don't think introducing girls to engineering is really necessary - we already know it's out there and if it's what we want to do, we'll do it.

Maybe instead of trying to introduce females to engineering, people should look at encouraging those who already have an interest.