Why Women are important in Engineering? / Women In STEM/ INWED2020

Connect. Support. Inspire.11 Connect. Support. Inspire.
Importance of Women In
Engineering
MEHAK AZEEM
Biomedical Engineer
SDG Advocate, Pakistan
IEEE R10 SAC Member
IEEE R10 Collabratec Coordinator

“I’m not saying you can’t. But, engineering
is more suited for boys, you know?”
“You’re taking engineering? You must be a
tomboy!”
“It’s easier for the boys because they have
more practical knowledge.”

Women and Engineering:
The “Deadly” Combination
International Women’s Engineering day is about raising
awareness and celebrating the achievements of women in
engineering. I want to encourage young people to the
fantastic careers there are in engineering and celebrate
those already in the industry,”

Women of Ancient times

Connect. Support. Inspire.5
Welcome to
Engineering
World!

???
What’s stopping you?

Misconceptions about women
and Engineering
Do you believe that all of this is a man’s
territory? Here we tap into some popular
engineering myths we come across and
separate fact from fiction.

Men naturally perform better than women in
engineering?
Do they really?
No cognitive differences
in men and women
The problem is
Nurture not Nature
Which one is Visual Spatial
skills activities?

Soft skills suit women more than technical
ones?
People following soft skills are more successful than technical, and they are successful in
every aspect of life if they truly follow soft skills. While technical skills are essential to do a
job, soft skills help in doing the job more effectively. Both are equally important.
Critical thinking/problem solving
Top 5 most lacking soft skills
Attention to detail
Communication
Leadership
Teamwork

LinkedIn 2019 Talent Trends: Soft Skills,
Transparency and Trust
Top 3 most lacking hard skills
Writing proficiency
Public speaking
Data analysis

Why Women Engineers Leave?
Before we look for reasons why
women leave the engineering field,
let’s consider this:
A huge group of women engineers
(15% of our sample of over 3,700
women engineers) never even
entered the engineering profession
after earning their undergrad in
engineering.
WHY?

Top 5 Reasons for Not Entering Engineering
1. Not interested in engineering.
2. Didn’t like the engineering culture.
3. Had always planned to go into another field.
4. Did not find the career flexible enough.
5. Wanted to start their own business.
6. These reasons did not differ significantly across different age groups or
years of graduation.

In their Own Voices : Why Women Engineers Never Entered The
Field
“I interviewed with a company where there
were NO WOMEN working there, besides
secretaries, NO MINORITIES and no one
in the young adult age group.” – African
American Chemical Engineering Graduate
“ At the time I graduated no one was hiring except for
the computer consulting companies who also paid very
well compared to engineering and valued our problem
solving skills. By the time I worked … for 5 years, I HAD
SURPASSED my father’s salary who had worked in
engineering for over 40 years.” – Caucasian Aerospace
Engineering Graduate

Why do you think that it is important that more girls have
the option to follow careers in science and engineering?
• An engineer means that you are working on real-life problems and helping people and,
besides, you can have any career with a science degree.
• As the world becomes more technologically driven, science qualifications will become
more and more essential to our way of life.
• Apart from having a very rewarding career, you will be rewarded financially.
• Then there’s the skills shortage.
• We simply don’t have enough engineers to meet the demands of employers.
• Careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) allow you to
travel, to live in different countries and hopefully keep you employed for life, and we
don’t want girls to miss out on all this.

What can be done to encourage and support women in male-
dominated industries such as science and engineering?
I believe there are a number of obstacles which people – especially women – face when it
comes to careers in engineering
• There are perception issues – science and maths are seen as being only for a ‘brainy’ few
and there are outdated assumptions that women are not as good at STEM subjects as
men.
• There is no intrinsic difference in the ability of men and women in science and maths. Any
difference that appears can be attributed to cultural issues.
• women are well-respected for their abilities. We should keep an open mind about
different educational backgrounds as the industry is comprised mainly of those with an
engineering degree and that is limiting.

What can be done to encourage and support women in male-
dominated industries such as science and engineering?
• We need to keep a close eye on how we market our industry and the opportunities within
it.
• There isn’t just one right way to be a successful engineer – we can be technical specialists,
managers of teams, business development leaders and many others.
• We should highlight these opportunities in order to attract and retain a diverse workforce.
It is also important to mentor engineers throughout their careers.
• Where role models for minorities are scarce, it is even more important that this support is
maintained.
• Many women study science with a view to becoming doctors. We should encourage those
who don’t go on to do medicine to consider engineering.

In what ways do you think that engineering and the construction
industry in general would be different if more women were
employed?
In the recent times, I’ve seen a change in the number of women, both in design offices
and on site.
• Around 20% of the technical staff is female, which is much higher than the industry
average of 8-10%
• The site I am working on at present hasn’t have any female engineer, alongside 13 male
engineers. So, we still have to go more!
• Having a diverse workforce is important for ideas.
• Reflect society, then how can we come up with the best solution?
• Women can bring a lot of creativity to the industry and also collaboration skills.

Meet the female engineer determined to transform India from
within
Shivani is a Senior Manager for
Cities Account Management
(Urban Development) at
Siemens, India.
We have to show young people,
especially girls, that far from closing
down options, studying maths and
science actually expands them.

You can also do it!

Thank you!
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/mehak-azeem-187108173
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mehak.azeem.7946
IEEE Collaboratec: https://ieee-collabratec.ieee.org/app/p/MehakAzeem950?slv=true

Why Women are important in Engineering? / Women In STEM/ INWED2020

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