I have been thinking about this title. As I have been working in the Faculty of Engineering and Design for over three years now I am guessing that I now fall under this title. For most of my career I have instead considered myself as a Woman in Science or Woman in Administration.
It turns out there are many overlaps between these work areas with all of them requiring the desire to understand and analyse a challenge and to develop an efficient and effective solution. All require attention to detail, but it has seemed to me that this is generally differently valued, with administration maybe being seen as the easier option than engineering or science.
I have always been welcomed and accepted in my roles the engineering departments, and had engineering been proposed as a serious viable option for me in secondary school it is very possible that I would have pursued it as a career. Hopefully schools are now more likely to promote engineering as a career option equally to ALL students.
Maybe the answer is to highlight that the skills required for engineering are also those exhibited or required for other more traditional female roles, that when we reach a solution by developing a procedure, adapting equipment, or rearranging workspaces for efficiency we are actually all Women of Engineering.
Just a thought.
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