I walk into my Intro to Civil and Construction Engineering class, next to me are two girls who I talked to while we waited for the classroom to open up. I look around the lecture hall, supposedly there are 200 students in this lecture. Slowly I start to count: one, two, three...I only get to twenty before I stop. Twenty girls out of 200 students...I am one of 10%. HOLY SHIT!
Before you go into engineering you hear about how rare it is to find women in the engineering field. Coming in, I was prepared for small amounts of women, however, there are a lot of women in chemical, biological,and environmental engineering (CBEE). On the other hand, in mechanical, industrial, and manufacturing engineering (MIME) there are even fewer women. The same thing can be said for Civil and Construction Engineering Management (CCEM).
Although many women are going into engineering, most of them are going into CBEE; the MIME and CCEM are even more uneven (in terms of gender) than CBEE, probably even when they're combined.
Luckily there are groups for us women who are brave enough to venture into a) the engineering world and b) the MIME and CCEM world. There is the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), there's an engineering sorority (Phi Sigma Rho), there's an engineering for women class, and there's even a women engineering lounge.
It's going to be difficult being one of the few, but then again, I love a good challenge.
Edit: I did some research and found that when divided into subsections of which engineering women are in, the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) provides information that shows that the average percentage of women in MIME and CCE is only 17.16% whereas the average percentage of women in chemical, biological, and environmental engineering (CBEE) is 37.1%.
Before you go into engineering you hear about how rare it is to find women in the engineering field. Coming in, I was prepared for small amounts of women, however, there are a lot of women in chemical, biological,and environmental engineering (CBEE). On the other hand, in mechanical, industrial, and manufacturing engineering (MIME) there are even fewer women. The same thing can be said for Civil and Construction Engineering Management (CCEM).
Although many women are going into engineering, most of them are going into CBEE; the MIME and CCEM are even more uneven (in terms of gender) than CBEE, probably even when they're combined.
Luckily there are groups for us women who are brave enough to venture into a) the engineering world and b) the MIME and CCEM world. There is the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), there's an engineering sorority (Phi Sigma Rho), there's an engineering for women class, and there's even a women engineering lounge.
It's going to be difficult being one of the few, but then again, I love a good challenge.
Edit: I did some research and found that when divided into subsections of which engineering women are in, the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) provides information that shows that the average percentage of women in MIME and CCE is only 17.16% whereas the average percentage of women in chemical, biological, and environmental engineering (CBEE) is 37.1%.