A Few Myths About Women in Engineering. Read More
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Are you one of those people, who consider women are useless in the engineering field. Do you think they are not professional enough? This article will dispel your beliefs about the inappropriate role of ladies in such technical sphere, as engineering.
Myth 1: Women are Worse Scientists than Men
Engineering is an essential part of science, and to succeed in this field one should understand many scientific concepts. It is common to think that men have innate abilities to scientific disciplines, while women are better at humanities. Due to that men dominate at scientific circles and achieve great success in it. Still, this fact does not prevent women from being prominent scholars in any sphere. Ladies were good at engineering in the past, and they still are. Just several examples from recent history are: Fabiola Gianotti with excellent knowledge in particle physics, Aditi Shankardass (neuroscientist), Rachel Zimmerman – specializes in space science and many others.
Myth 2: Women have Poor Academic Credentials
It was true decades ago, but it is no longer relevant. In fact, statistic shows that female student are more interested in studying, and they improve their academic performance much faster than male students do. E.g. in the UK, women outnumber men in the majority of scientific disciplines, and they are more enthusiastic about visiting classes and doing homework.
Myth 3: Women are Better in Soft Skills, than Technical Ones
This myth is far from the truth, as skills do not depend on the gender. They are determined by talents, and it is obvious that some people may be good at one sphere, but they are complete dummies at another field. Of course, our society prescribes that there is work for men and for women, and majorities believe that women have more elaborated soft skills, while men are professionals in technical sphere. However, it is just a belief. Moreover, engineering requires not only the knowledge of the subject but also good communication, team leading, management skills, as well as creativity, good reaction, decisiveness and flexibility.
Myth 4: The are not Enough Money for Women
Gender pay gap is relevant for all spheres, so the technical field is not an exception. According to the research of PayScale, this phenomenon is common even for jobs, where women are in majority. Thus the pay gap in engineering is 1.7%, the same it is in architecture. In mathematical and computer jobs it equals to 3%, while in business and finance- related jobs it grows to 4%. Sales, production, and installation have 4.5%, 6%, and 7.6% respectively. In farming, gender pay gap equals to high 9%. Thus, female engineers get more or less equal income with men, if to compare with women in another spheres.
Myth 5: Women cannot be in Charge in Engineering
It is definitely not true. There are many examples when women climbed career leader and get to the top positions in well-known companies. Thus, Marissa Mayer holds both Bachelor and Master degrees in artificial intelligence and went through Google ranks and become CEO of Yahoo. Another example is the success of Ginny Rometty who has a degree in computer science and engineering, and she is CEO of IBM. Mary Barra was working on several leading positions in General Motors, and currently, she is in CEO position in the same company.
Thus, it is completely false belief that women are not good at science, and engineering in particular, and they definitely can occupy leading positions in this sphere.