Women in Engineering

Everyone knows that the proportion of females studying engineering is still low, although it is on the rise. And even if it is on the rise, it is only in certain majors. Like environmental engineering, EE engineering, Software, IT and a few hybrid ones. The rise is not constant across all engineering disciplines. In my university, the average male to female ratio is about 10:1, except in the majors above where the ratios are higher.

I was slacking during my break today and went to help my friend sell tickets for an EE networking forum. Actually I was just being a kaypo there. Hahaha. Of course acting serious for 2 hours just wasnt us. We had to find more interesting things to entertain ourselves with. I'm not sure how the topic came up, but it did.

Then we started talking on how a mining engineering has the highest starting salary - ranging from $100k to $150k a year. But of course you have to work in the mines! Which isnt very appealing. Not to mention studying mining can be very boring. Then suddenly my friend said,

"can you imagine AAA doing Oil and Gas? I mean, can you actually imagine her sitting on an oil rig?"

To which my other friend replied,
"She's not going to sit on the oil rig. She's going to marry a rich oil tycoon and become tai-tai!"

In which the first friend replied,
"Oh yea hor! She just enter the industry to meet her future husband. Hahaha."

Hahahaha. I can only laugh. These 2 other friends of mine are both doing engineering, the first one doing the same major as me, Mechatronics, the other one doing IT. I dont know why they think AAA will not work as an O&G engineer. Probably because they think she is too beauty/fashion conscious to do that. Or maybe they think all girls from Indo will eventually settle down with a rich husband as soon as they graduate. I dont know. I'm not that close to AAA.

I'm not actually surprised that graduate female engineers will end up like that. I'm not saying that I am an exception, I cannot tell the future right! But hopefully I will not end up like that. Hahaha. My friend's mum is an ideal example of this. She graduated from civil engineering, I think, and married her dad, a geomechanical engineer and settled down as a housewife. Yes, she is from Indo.

I am assuming these people went through the 4 years of tough engineering just for interest or passion. What is the point of studying something, only to graduate and become a housewife? Unless you are making great changes with your knowledge gained from university, I really dont see the point. And even that, I still dont see the point. To me, it is a waste of time, effort, and money. Unless your family is loaded of course, then who cares how many degrees you take before and after settling down as a housewife. They say knowledge is never wasted, you can never have too much knowledge. I know I might attract a lot of haters by making such statements, but this is what I feel. And no, I'm not trying to boast about myself, or anything along those lines. There are many great women engineers out there. Definitely not as huge in numbers as the males, but they do exist. I do not hope to be as successful as them, all I hope for is for me to experience the daily work of an engineer, enjoy it, and to satisfy my interests that engineers do make things happen. Hehehe.

Until this day, my dad still believes that my commerce degree will be the one that takes me places, and not my engineering degree. I'm not underestimating my commerce degree. But I believe with both, I can go further than with only one. That was not my initial plan though. Haha. My plan was to study engineering for interest, and study commerce for its importance. But soon I found myself enjoying both! :P Now I believe that working as an investment consultant/stock broker/analyst can be very interesting indeed.

This probably brings the topic of independent/career women as well. I believe the majority of you believe that a woman's place is in her home. Women are born to be home-makers and they should stick to it, and not outside in the corporate world fighting for equal rights. I'm not against equal rights for women because I believe some women really deserve better rights than they currently do. But being equal does not mean being the same. Men and women can never be the same. We were made to be different and different we shall be. It is not wrong for women to have her own career, but I believe she must also know her responsibilities as a home-maker. Because in the end, she is still the wife of her husband and mother of her kids. She will eventually have to settle down as a housewife. Agree? Hahaha. I sound so funny talking about this. Please dont flame me if you dont >_<"

So fellow engineers and non-engineers, male and female, tell me what you think will you? Enlighten me with your view on these issues. Make me think under a different light...hehehe. In the meantime, I should get back to my derivatives tutorial. Hahaha.