I understand that this might appear a bit strange to some people. But really, we don’t have enough women in engineering. And I want to change that. But first, because this is always first, why do we need more women in engineering?
The fairness reason
Well, seriously, why would you want to eliminate 51% of the population from a particular profession? I mean, particularly as engineering moves more towards manipulation of data and analysis, why would you not want women to be involved?
Sure, swinging a too-heavy sledge hammer all day every day would wear out a body, but that’s true whether the body in question is male or female (assuming you subscribe to a binary view of gender, which I don’t, but let’s not get into that just now)
The business case
There is evidence that more diverse problem solving groups lead to better solutions. Since an engineer’s job is primarily problem solving, wouldn’t it make sense that a diverse team would lead to better engineering outcomes?
Not to mention that including more women on design and development teams can lead to more women-friendly products. Seriously, how big are smartphones going to get???
The society case
This is particularly true in developing countries but even in developed countries, engineering is critical in driving economic development, promoting sustainability, and improving the quality of life. Remember the diversity comment above? Well that goes double for society as a whole, rather than just a given company.
Look, I get it. It can seem like women are always harping on about something (direct quote I got from a colleague once! I was actually asking for the loan of a pencil at the time…) But if I can offer help and advice that can help another woman out or point a student in the direction of a successful career, I will. And that’s what this blog is about.
EngineerHer 