What do women say about their experiences as engineers? I undertook a mini-survey in July 2016 and collected 123 responses – all of which are from engineers in different industries. What I was interested to know was whether or not women are satisfied with their careers in engineering? Do they have development opportunities? Do they feel that their careers or their lives have been impacted by gender discrimination in any way?
In the end, I concluded that female engineers were incredibly tolerant people. It could be inferred that they were generally satisfied in their professions. They were asked to rate the different metrics on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest and 1 is the lowest and the following are the result of that survey:
Career satisfaction: 3.8
Development opportunities: 3.5
Culture in the organisation: 3.8
Flexibility in the organisation: 3.9
However, when I asked whether they have been discriminated against on the basis of gender only 13% said ‘no’ and 12% said that they have experienced being bullied or unwanted sexual advances. A further 12% said that they felt unwelcome in their workplaces and a further 51% claimed minor discrimination. In total, 87% of these women had experienced discrimination on the basis of their gender.
When asked whether their careers had been impacted by gender discrimination, 27% said no. What was interesting here was that there was a significant difference between women who had children and those who did not. 40% of women without children felt that being a woman had not impacted their career; whereas, only 17% of women with children felt the same way. 83% of women with children felt that being female and being a parent (mother) had limited their career opportunities.
In conclusion, we can say that:
– A significant proportion of female are experiencing gender discrimination and can feel unwelcome in their workplaces
– Over half of women without children feel that their career prospects are being impacted by their gender
– Female engineers who are mothers feel that their career prospects are being impacted
Here are some quotes from some of the female engineers surveyed:
“Things are great now, however 20 years ago there weren’t as many opportunities for women in engineering in my opinion.”
“One of my first experiences as a new graduate was walking across the shop floor and hearing the site manager say to a colleague, I wouldn’t mind putting that across my knee and spanking it.”
“As a new graduate, I was the only female of three new employees who needed to be allocated to three different roles. I was chosen to be desk role and the other two graduates (men) were put in mostly on site roles. I was told they chose based on who they felt was most suited to the role, but I felt my gender played a big part in that. Having said that, I was the first female engineer the company had ever hired and I believe that actually helped me get the job in the first place, because there were over 90 candidates that applied and only 2 were women.”
“Passive discrimination, not being thought of in the first instance for responsibility for a difficult job. Being pushed gradually towards the soft roles of organizing the lunch time seminar series.”
“There is a noticeable two-tiered culture between the male and female consultants. Opportunities, which were commonly offered to my male counterparts, were rarely offered to women with similar experience or expertise.”
“But the hardest thing has been taking on leader posts, since I cannot work 24/7 due to responsibilities within family. My male colleagues has not having that problem since their wives are taking the biggest responsibility at home. I’m in a much equal relationship, however my husband would never work part time to support my career. Leadership roles sadly often seems to be built for persons putting family second. Should not be like that!”
“I’m paid substantially less than male colleagues in exact same role.”
“Career opportunities have been limited by working part-time (4 days per week)following returning to work from parental leave. Actually managing full-time job being paid for 4-days per week and doing lots of work from home in my own time.”
“When unsuccessfully applying for a role, feedback included “we feel John is more capable of telling the contractor what to do, like he kinda has broader shoulders to take on the role” (with no examples of why he’d be better).”
“No support from employers for junior academics in child bearing years in prime Australian Institute like ANU towards career development. That made me quit my job and pursue academics in a Hospital based institute where there are more women and actual support rather than just words.”
“I feel out of place in all male parties.”
“Got paid less than a male in the same/similar role.”
“I’ve worked part-time since having children and I think this significantly impacts I progression opportunities.”
“Assumed at least twice at site meetings that I was the engineers secretary sent to take minutes.”
“My current company is exceptionally supportive of diversity and females in manufacturing.”
“I often feel like I am disrupting a “boys club” rather than being part of a team. Several incidences where I have been “called-out” as a female and made to feel like I do not belong.
“I had more issues as an electrician rather then when I became an engineer.”
The results of the survey are presented here.
