You’re right, 9% is not enough. So what's going wrong?
The first thing I hear when I tell someone I’m an engineer is usually “Really? Not many girls doing that”. You’re right. There aren’t. In the UK, only about 9% of professional engineers are women. So today I want to talk about those girls who make it as far as an engineering degree, but somehow don’t make it into the engineering workforce. I’m going to be talking largely from my personal experience, but here are a few tips and tricks to improve women’s experiences of engineering at a university level.
[Warning: I get a little bit worked up and swear-y half way through. Sorry].
When a girl tells you she’s studying engineering, treat her as a human being who is making a very sensible life choice, not some side show freak. Yes I get it, girls in engineering are rare but when you just say “Really? Not many girls doing that.” and leave it there, it’s a real conversation killer. Ask her why, or what type of engineering, or what she wants to do when she graduates. Ya know, like you would if a guy told you the same thing.
When a girl tells you she’s been offered a job, or an internship, the most appropriate response is to congratulate her. I’ve lost count of the amount of times people have instead responded with “yeah well it’s easy for girls to get a job in engineering, it’s all positive discrimination”. No. I’m sorry, but fuck off. Sure, that’s always a possibility and we can never really know, but isn’t it more likely she got the job because of her hard work, her excellent academic record, her extra curriculars, her wonderful personality, her glowing references? And while we’re at it, isn’t it just as likely (in fact much more so) that most of the guys working at that company only got the job because of regular discrimination? Because some old fart working in admissions went ‘pah, girls can’t do maths’ and picked up his application instead? So how ‘bout we all pipe down and support one another?
When a girl contributes to a group discussion, don’t talk over her. Actually you know what, don’t talk over anyone in a group discussion, It’s fucking rude. Control yourself and learn some manners.
When a girl contributes to a group, don’t look to a random, less qualified male to fact check her. Patronising, unnecessary, illogical.
Don’t assume that girls are confused or incapable. For me, a lot of this probably also stems from the fact that I look about 12, and that doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in my abilities. But it’s still downright rude that every lecture ends with my professor looking at me and going “Ellie. Do you understand that?”. (This is one module in particular, not necessarily representative of all lecturers at my uni)
If a girl takes the lead, don’t call her bossy. I mean come on, how fucking patronising can you get?! Big deal, you were wrong, I politely corrected you. Get over it. And when I’m leading a group, obviously I’m going to have to tell you to do things now and again. Why am I bitchy for doing exactly what you’d do in this role?
Don’t expect every girl you meet to act as some kind of ambassador for female kind. Also, please stop asking me why there aren’t more girls doing engineering. I’m sorry, but I don’t know! Clearly whatever put them off, didn’t put me off!
Maths and makeup are not mutually exclusive. Don’t assume just because I spent 5 minutes this morning swiping on a cat eye, that I can’t also spend 5 minutes wiping the floor with your ass when it comes to trajectory planning calculations. Similarly, wearing a dress in no way impairs my knowledge of powder processing techniques.
Please, no pet names. I am your colleague, your equal, maybe even your friend, but I am absolutely not your sweetheart, your darling or your sugar. Just use my name. There’s only 2 girls, so don’t pretend you don’t know it.
To conclude, women are people. Despite my rant, being a female engineer is 95% of the time totally fine, and I love love love all my male friends from my course. But every once in a while, the things I’ve listed above really get to me. Even the kindest, most well-intentioned people end up doing it sometimes. So please just be aware, and if you catch yourself doing any of these things, just pause and apologise. We don’t need to be treated like rare, delicate, confused little flowers, just as people.
Also spotted on Friday was IEP Class 800 800001 on a test run from London Paddington to Bristol Parkway and back, seen here on the return leg at Swindon. These will start replacing the 40+ year old HST sets on the western this Autumn.
