EngineerHer

For those who know me, the following sentence will cause no surprise. I was reading an interesting article the other day, which started me thinking. It’s a Harvard Business Review article from 2016, but it’s only one in a whole long list of articles and papers and books discussing the issue. So let’s take a look at some of the reasons that are being discussed.

Thankfully this one isn’t too prevalent anymore…

A lot of respondents, particularly from the earlier articles and papers on the topic outline the “creepy” approach of older male engineers to young female graduates and interns. Even professors making what would now be seen as completely inappropriate comments about female engineering students looks rather than their work.

It happened to me in my younger days, not so much any more thankfully. At best it’s a pain you can ignore. At worst it creates a hostile working environment, where it’s done openly as if it’s just to be accepted…

Now in my experience, this is not the case anymore, but that could just be me getting old. But speaking to younger engineers, it doesn’t appear to be the case as much as it was 20yrs ago anyway. Which is good. I’m also aware that for the last decade or so, I’ve worked in places where women are a normal part of the background so to speak, so it wouldn’t be tolerated anyway.

I have spoken to a few women in strictly engineering firms, where this is reported as still the case, but none currently in Ireland, thankfully, and it seems to be much smaller firms where it can be more prevalent. If you’re dealing with this, please feel free to reach out to me and I’ll try and help.

Different types of work???

The HBR 2016 article mentions this as happening in both college work and in internships. I have heard some reports from apprenticeships and graduate programs as well. Women are praised for well presented work, being allocated filing, administrative tasks, coordinating work, copying, etc and assigned this work in lieu of actual engineering work of problem solving technical issues.

Who puts themselves through an engineering degree to coordinate and file papers???

I love putting in place a good system, don’t get me wrong now, but I want to put in a decent engineering process and system, not a paperwork one. And presenting me with a nice technical issue to work through is almost a pleasant break these days, now my work is more managerial in nature.

If we, as a society, want women to be engineers, then we have to ensure they are allowed to actually be engineers in the workplace. Now again – in manufacturing plants, this appears to be less of an issue, purely because there are usually too many problems and too few engineers. But women can get sidelined even in this space if they are not careful.

If you are being assigned predominantly administrative tasks, or work that isn’t predominantly problem solving or engineering focused, it can feel like your work, your talent, your skillset just isn’t being appreciated. And ok, a day or so can feel like a nice break after a particularly tough project. And of course, paperwork is important, and record keeping is important. But if it’s all you’re ever assigned, it’s time to have a think.

There are ways to tackle it of course. A fairly direct conversation with your line manager usually does the trick. (But then, any of my past and/present leaders will tell you I’m fairly direct most of the time anyway. Uncomfortably so at times). Still, raising your concerns in a 1-2-1 or private conversation is a good starting point. Volunteering for a project or problem is another way to get involved in work that interests you. Managers rarely refuse a willing volunteer, especially if it’s something no one has time to take on really.

Dress code

This can be a major issue. For most men, it’s usually very straight forward to decide what to wear to work. They just look around them to see what everyone else is wearing. I have noticed there appears to be a certain level in every organisation I’ve worked in, that the male engineers change from the steady uniform of checked shirt/ polo shirt (with a jumper in winter) to a uniform of plain coloured shirt. It’s usually when they become a manager of managers instead of an individual contributor or a manager of individual contributors. It’s not always as clear cut as that, of course, but it definitely is noticeable.

For women – well it’s not always as clear cut. For a start, there are usually few, if any, other examples of women’s clothes within the department. And what is suitable for a different department, may not be suitable for engineering.

I had a conversation recently with a colleague about our reticence to wear dresses or skirts in the workplace. Now, I alluded to this earlier, but my days of clambering over machines are, for the most part, over. And frankly, the tights I wear with dresses these days are thicker than most of my leggings (Snag tights, in case you’re interested!!)

Even if I do wear a dress or a skirt, I usually have a pair of leggings or trousers in the car or in the desk drawer anyway.

So, why do we feel such reticence? Part of it – for me – is that it makes me stand out from my male colleagues in a way that isn’t always positive. I mean, I wore a standard uniform of black trousers, white shirt, black cardigan for the first 5 or so years of my career. Occasionally I’d mix it up and wear a black v-neck jumper instead of the cardie. For five years. Including the times I was spending 99% of my time in overalls, and frankly could have been wearing pajamas and no one would have noticed.

But really, there should be an issue with wearing skirts or dresses as long as they’re appropriate for the workplace you’re in.

And there’s that nasty word. “Appropriate”. It can be used as a weapon to further destroy someone’s confidence. It can be used as a means to control someone in the workplace because it is so vague. I have had tops described as “inappropriate” when my grandmother would have had no difficulty wearing them to Mass.

So beware when someone starts talking about “appropriate”. I mean, ok, I haven’t come across an engineering workplace yet where a bikini would be appropriate. And pajamas are probably not appropriate in general for the workplace, even if you are in overalls all the time. But if you’re in the workplace, you’re an adult. Make your decisions. If you feel uncomfortable in the clothes you choose on a certain day, have a think about it. Is it because of the clothes themselves being uncomfortable? Because of some looks you think you received? Did people treat you in a way you didn’t like or weren’t comfortable with?

Or indeed, did they treat you with more respect and authority?

What we wear can be powerful in helping us feel better, helping other people see us differently, helping us see ourselves differently. So, y’know, no harm in a bit of experimentation!

Team work – or lack thereof!

Team work is a fundamental part of engineering. Rarely if ever does one person on their own solve a problem. However, women find from as early as college project work that they tend to get relegated to admin or other lower value work. If they are involved in problem solving and technical aspects, their ideas and contributions are questioned more often, or even discarded. What is worse, is when an idea is presented by a woman and discarded, only for a man in the group to suggest it a few mins later to great applause and appreciation.

I speak from experience – I spent several years in an environment where I presented any ideas I had through my boss to get them heard, because if I presented them, the idea was dismissed immediately. Now, this isn’t unique to engineering of course. Check out this article from 2017 showing what happened when a man swopped email signatures with his female team member. He realised his ability to get through work quicker had nothing to do with his greater experience and expertise as he had assumed… who knew?

Well, women all over the world knew, but I digress.

It’s difficult as well when you bring these issues up, either with a trusted colleague or a manager, and have your experience doubted. This happens me all the time. I raise up ways in which male colleages’ ideas are treated differently (less so in recent years to be fair, but still happening on occasion)

I’m very often told I’m imagining things, it’s because X has greater experience in this area, Y has longer tenure here so people trust him more… all sorts of reasons are presented other than what is the fundamental reason.

It’s sexism.

Seriously. Sexism isn’t as blatant as it was 20 yrs ago, but it’s still there in the workplace. It’s just gone underground. And in some ways, it’s much, much harder to prove. Men don’t see it (usually) but they assume they would see it, if it were happening. So, when women raise it, it gets very uncomfortable, very quickly.

And while men don’t always mean this, the questions they ask can come across as not believing their female colleagues. Seriously. If a woman comes to you to talk about experiencing sexism in the workplace, don’t let you’re first answers or responses be any of the following:

• “I’ve never noticed anything like that”
• “I’d be very upset/disappointed/put out if that was the case”
• “Are you sure you aren’t just imagining things?”
• “That person is a bastion of equality, he’d never xxx”
• “Ah sure they were only messing. Don’t take things so seriously”

Seriously now. After 2 decades in the workplace, I’ve heard all the above and much worse. To the point where I was seriously questioning myself and I took all the sexism on board and internalised it. It’s not a fun place to be.

If a woman is saying there has been sexist behaviour in the workplace? Respond as if there is sexist behaviour in the workplace, regardless of how you personally feel.

And if you’re a female engineering experiencing sexism in the workplace, reach out to people. If you have no one around you, reach out to me. There are ways to help yourself. Ultimately, if there isn’t a will to change the culture – leave. You deserve better and there are workplaces out there that will value you, develop you, treat you as the professional you are!