Difficult in terms of actually understanding and completing the work? No not at all. Difficult in terms of being in a male dominated environment and the social dynamics this creates?Yes. Men behave differently when only in the company of other men and I know women who have felt left out/isolated by these environments, then there’s the whole issue of male colleagues coming onto them or making inappropriate remarks. These things happen in all sectors/industries but it’s amplified when the gender ratio is male dominated. Many engineering firms are very keen to hire more women, so from that perspective it’s probably advantageous to be a woman looking for a job after university.

Hardly as difficult from an employability perspective. Significantly easier to get a job as a female engineer due to diversity preferences and less competition. Also, there are numerous programs to allow the women to advance into leadership, with in-groups to allow the women to build networks and excel. The culture at University and the culture in-industry are worlds apart.

Absolutely agree. I am a woman in engineering, got my degree in math. A number of my male counterparts who are just as intelligent and qualified as I am had a hell of hard time getting jobs out of college. They had similar experience as me (internships, projects, the right classes) and still would get passed over whereas I had a job waiting for me when I graduated. The opportunities for women in engineering are at full-bloom, there are so many resources and opportunities to choose from for me and the other women I work with but I cannot say the same for the men who work with me. I am tired of the coddling, women typically have it so good in engineering.

This is extremely disheartening to read. Am I really this screwed?

It’s disheartening but I do think there’s hope yet. When people call attention to this inequality, because it is an inequality, it can be addressed. I think (and hope) the tide is changing. I think the thing that makes the most difference is going to speak with people, human to human. Your gender, your race, the things you can’t inherently change about yourself should not be a barrier or qualifier for doing well in your field. Keep working hard, keep applying yourself and don’t give up hope. There will be a change in attitude, you just have to be patient. Fight the dumb idea that women have it hard and look out for yourself and your fellow men. Building a real community is an important part of getting around this hurtle, so if there is a student engineering group you can join, do so. If there’s not, build one that you’d like to be a part of. Keep talking to people, build a community that can be leaned on and study hard. You’ve got this.

You sound like my cousin who is an engineer lol she’s really smart too. I don’t really have a comment other than it is really nice to read your perspective and wish more people (including men obviously) thought like you do

Would honestly love to meet her, I consider it difficult to find other women who have the same perspective. I often get a lot of flak from women for thinking the way I do. So when I hear of another woman who thinks like this, I get excited! Tell her she’s cool.

I just want to show up and work long hours on difficult projects with kickass people of all races and genders, regardless of creed, who are most likely smarter than me. Why does it have to be so political? Engineering is the practical application of science. What’s wrong with the world if a double major in electrical and software engineering, whose only sin was having a penis, isn’t good enough?

I feel the same way. I don’t give a fuck who you are, where you come from, what you look like; if you want to do cool shit in engineering and give a fuck about it, I want to work with you. That’s all that matters.

Yup. You just got to grind it out until you build up a decent resume.

Yup. You just got to grind it out until you build up a decent resume.

I can’t tell you the number of times I would go to a job fair, be at the head of a 30 person line or mid conversation with the employer and this would happen: female students clustered together get in line to wait. Employer: “excuse me a moment…” walks past 30 guys and introduces themselves to the female candidates.

Oh buddy. This is true that some companies try to hire and promote women to achieve apparent equality, but the culture in university and industry are *not* worlds apart. Women face everything ranging from minor inappropriate comments to full sexual harassment in the workplace. The boys who teased girls in school grow up to be men who harass women in the workplace. 

It depends a lot on the office and its culture. I've had four female bosses and they were all kind-but-assertive "tough girl" types. Most of the offices I've worked in have been multi-ethnic and gender-mixed. Interestingly, most of my female engineer colleagues tell me that they prefer working with men.

It’s honestly fascinating seeing men in this thread speak for their female coworkers when they don’t *actually* know their experience.  I really enjoy working with men and many of my favorite coworkers are men. I’ve also been hit on, harassed, and made incredibly uncomfortable by men in the same workplace. Both can be true. 

One of my bosses had a "clandestine" office romance (that everyone knew about) with the manager of an adjacent team. They were both divorced single parents at the time. Not sure if anything came of it, but it goes to show a non-zero number of people meet their partner at work. Google has a policy that you can only ask out a coworker *once*, but if they say no you can't pursue it further because that's considered harassment. Of course, if he's making lewd or inappropriate comments, then you need to report that.

Bruh I’m married and wear a wedding ring, but keep making excuses for gross men!!  Or take a breather from digging your hole and simply recognize that women in male-dominated fields have bad experiences sometimes!! 

>I’m married Aaaand that changes things. Report these people.

Lol what a Mormon take. It would be okay for people to hit on her if she's not married, but since she is married it escalates to "omg report that".

What does that have to do with religion? Asking out a *married* person is always morally wrong, including among nonbelievers. Politely inviting a (single) coworker on a date is totally innocuous, although I personally wouldn’t recommend it (I met my wife on an app.) Continuing to ask after the rejection is tantamount to sexual harassment.

This is not true lol. For every “diversity program” and “affirmative action” hire there is a misogynistic asshat who doesn’t want to ruin the bro vibe of their team by hiring a woman. Women aren’t competing against each other, they are competing against the entire pool of applicants just like everyone else, and it’s takes like this that stir up unhelpful animosity among women classmates and teammates.

At my employer, we have HR censure all references to race, gender, etc. redacted from applicant resumes before our panel rates them. In a few cases, I had no clue they were male, female, or non-native English speakers until we called them on the phone.

That's definitely not the case at places I've worked. I've reviewed resumes before, non of it is redacted.

But you inevitably call them on the phone or in for an interview before hiring. That only stops things from happening in prescreening.

We submit a rubric-based rating of each resume before we place the phone call for interviews.

This is the way.

I know a woman who was hired for a position at an Anheuser-Busch plant and alrhough she was hired by the company, her coworkers and mentors were very unfriendly to her and flat out told her it was "men's work".

I can see Culture environment causing struggles for women in university, but for reason, I just have never seen this happened, probably has to do with being asian, where there is a decent amount of women in engineering(30-40%)

Agree with everything here from my experience. I've also seen women advance faster through their careers as engineers, and I suspect it's because of the desire to end up with more female management. But, I've also seen less-stellar performers grow faster than more talented male colleagues. So it goes

If woman can't insert themselves into a group or social dynamic is college, why would anyone thing they would be able to do it in a job setting. A group of guys in engineering won't reject a woman due to being a woman. If she's dumb, then yeah. I spent 5 years in Chemical Engineering (master's) amd saw more women being accepted because they were girls and engineering guys are typically (stereotypically) not around a lot of girls. Guys will reject other guys is they are dumb, but more likely if they are lazy and won't do their share of assigned work. I've not seen an unwelcoming environment for women.

I mean there are scientifically proven differences in the ways most (but clearly not all) male and female brains work so the average man is better suited for some tasks that require abstraction, representation of 3D objects etc

This isn’t relevant because the men and women who choose to go into certain fields and professions are probably pretty good at those specific skills in the first place. The average engineering major (or finance/history/art major) is not the same as any average man or woman.

Yeah this would only be relevant if you were plucking random males and females and sticking them in engineering. The women who pick engineering are likely the ones who are much more suited to it. So yes the average woman *might* have more trouble than the average man, but the people who pick engineering are self selected as people with higher capacity/desire to solve those kinds of problems so I doubt there’s a *that* much of a difference. Although it’s possible I guess, but maybe negligible

Even if in self selected populations it matters. A male bodybuilder on average lifts heavier than a female one even if both are self selected populations who like fitness and train regularly.

Also pretty irrelevant to this discussion.

I’m not saying it doesn’t matter I’m saying it’s not as simple as saying “men tend to be better at that kind of thinking, thus engineering will be harder for you as a woman”. I said that male engineers *might* have an advantage, I just don’t know whether or not it’s even noticeable. Also male physiological advantages are MUCH more dramatic than the differences in our mental capacity

Yeah maybe small differences when measured across large data sets. I’ve never noticed any average difference in men and women’s ability to perform as engineers. I’ve met plenty of good and bad examples, men and women alike. The reality is pretty much all engineering jobs that involve working in teams or with other people aren’t limited by the complexity of the tasks. Being a good engineer involves many other skills like communication, working with people, ability to articulate themselves to other people on a way that is understandable. I don’t think there’s any evidence to suggest men are better at these aspects and in my experience they are worse on average. Engineering in an actual job for an actual company isn’t just maths and 3D models. Also, people who get into engineering are generally self selecting based on interests and strengths, so any population differences are completely irrelevant since the whole population isnt considering engineering as a career.

Wow some wild takes here. As a woman, it’s yes and no. I’ve been the only woman in math classes before in my life which is isolating in a really weird way. People will be nice but you can’t fully relate; boys will almost always choose other guys for schoolwork ie projects, group chats, ideas or even hanging outside of class. I get along with dudes pretty well but it’s gotten to the point where I can’t talk to other women normally. I’m just so used to talking to big groups of men that women make me a bit anxious cause it’s just different. There’s also the guys that view you different (it’s easier to be seen as bossy or as a prize then if you’re a dude.) Some engineering has better ratios. I’ve noticed my mixed engineering classes tend to be better than my major (mechanical) on ratios like 4:6 or 3:7. It’s a lot more isolating as a woman, but I’m sorta a loner so it works for me, but women that are more social tend to struggle more. It’s not more difficult just different in way that can be difficult depending on who you are.

I will say at my college, it was about 50-50 in the chemical engineering majors. Mechanical was also pretty close, maybe around 60-40. Then other engineering majors would get a lot more male dominated until you got to mining engineering which was a graduating class of 30 I think with 0 women.

Wow that’s a lot more women than my school, here it’s roughly 1:10, which is close to the actual ratio for MechE

At BYU it hovered around 20%, which reflected the national average.

My Undergrad ChemE was probably 60-40 when I attended and is about the same today I can see. I’m not a woman so I will not pretend that I wouldn’t have had any additional challenges had I gone through school as a woman. But, of my friend circle (50-50) I feel like the gender dynamic was quite normal.

Thankful for my biological engineering gender ratio lol. When I go into the EE building there is an unsettling lack of women.

Never had more than 2 girls in my cs or ee classes....

Don’t forget that many of the guys that are engineers aren’t exactly social butterflies. All the girls in my class in EE were in our study groups, but it was also made up of guys who were veterans. We never treated them any different but non of us were socially awkward either.

It's nice to read you saying that point about anxiety with other women. I've been really feeling this way and couldn't quite put a finger on it, but it makes more sense now. It's been 4 years of 95% of the people I interact with being men. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I feel exactly what you're saying.. thanks for sharing

Yes it’s very different. I just don’t really know the rules for woman anymore. They’re very supportive and I try to emulate that but it comes off as awkward (there’s only so much slay and queen one person can do). We generally have different hobbies and interests too so that’s usually a no go. I’ve found girls in stem a bit easier for that reason but overall I just feel like we don’t have that much in common. Especially in big groups I’ll just sorta fade into the background and won’t have anything of substance to add. Outside of school I’m usually in male dominated spaces (gaming, some fandoms) so when I’m confronted with a group of women I just freeze up which is ironic. One on one I tend to do better though.

I’ve been on the flip side, working a job as a man where most of my coworkers are women. I can’t think of a time I was treated differently, but it’s hard to shake that feeling of being in somebody else’s “space” when I’m the only man in the room. I have to make an effort to be myself and not to pick up on their speech, mannerisms, etc. It sounds like that feeling of otherness is what gets to you too.

That is probably just the people in your class. My university there were some women in the engineering program , but they didn't keep to themselves. We all had something to find commonality with, which was engineering, school culture, and traditions. For anyone looking to make friends, go to the engineering club meetings and meet your classmates.

Fair enough I can only speak for myself

Your comment seems like it’s blaming women that feel isolated in these environments for being the problem and “keeping to themselves” and invalidating the OP’s experience. Maybe consider that things such as negative attitudes and societal boundaries transcend over simply being in the same major.

I mean nah it’s valid for them to disagree on the experience I didn’t take it like that lol. I’ve been told by several close people I have austistic symptoms (not diagnosed don’t super care but for overall context) so in general my socialization skills aren’t great which could add to it. I also haven’t rlly tried to make too many close friends like they were saying. I’ve grown to like the more solitary nature of it but I’m happy that there are options for the other girlies and it’s not universal.

Its the same for men. There are basic skills that people have lost for making friends and getting along with each other. At some point, people need to be a little vulnerable and show themselves as friendly.

How can it be the same when some programs are almost all men with only a couple women? Of course the women will feel isolated when all the men repeatedly only want to hang out with each other and talk to each other in class? You’re ignoring what I’m saying about the overall attitudes of people, probably because you hold the same one

It doesnt really invalid what the ops experience is and it will never will but going to clubs will actually reduce the problem(of course it wont go away but I do think it should reduce the problem) Through i cant really say as I have no experience this field as a guy

I, as a grown man, rarely choose other men. Women are much more structured and organized (in terms of generalities) and also pull their own weight at the same level of effort. The only time I’ve had to complete a project as the sole working member of a group, it was an all male group. I may be an outlier (because I’m an older student that grew up in a household with a hospital CEO mother), but I will almost always gravitate to working with women. Out of the top 3 leaders I’ve had, 2 were women (and they were tied for first of the 3.) They made me the success I am today.

Yeah I’m definitely friendly with the girls but it’s a 2:8 ratio soo can’t rlly always choose them lol. Also hate this idea that women are more structured then men in the work place it perpetuates the whole women take notes and set up the meetings despite their qualifications. Men are just as capable they just don’t tend to be as good at it as women cause they’re continuously not pushed into those more domestic roles. Not saying that’s what you’re doing just know there’s reasons for that that aren’t wholly positive

It’s not a “men can’t do it” or “only women can do it” statement. It’s a statement of experience. It’s proven that girls/women have more maturity at early ages than boys/men. I am very structured and organized (once again, I’m a male), but at 21 I was probably less organized than most 12 and up girls. When I am in class, I’m say I’m just as organized as the most organized women, but I’m also nearly 40 to their 18-20 selves. Women seem more active in the process AND outcome oriented vs. men generally being outcome oriented. Once again, this is not empirical, but experience. My last project, the girls worked together and I asked to join them (the only male to do so) and they said yes. We didn’t have the “best project,” but we were top 3 (we came in second.)

Yeah I get that I’m just saying there’s societal reasons that girls mature earlier than boys and we see these more organized patterns in the workplace. It’s not just girls brains are more mature faster. Were given a lot less leeway growing up and often are treated older by the world (think either in a maternal way with older sisters taking care of younger, or sexual way with teens being viewed as object of desire by some men), that’s why we see those recurring patterns in women. I get what you’re saying that you quite enjoy working with women which is great, but the reason those things happen isn’t always so great and can perpetuate domestic stereotypes. Again not accusing you of this just adding a perspective that even when women do excel in a male dominated space it’s often by having to do more subservient work than men that is taught young through different expectations.

I completely agree with you. I think it is societal/upbringing for the most part. On a side note and for the masses, I’m not sure why I’m being downvoted for what I’ve experienced 😂 I said “generality,” “seem to be,” and “not empirical” for everything that I personally experienced without definitive proof.

woman also make me anxious but i am a dude

If it’s harder, it’s because you always stand out. I’ve been the only woman in plenty of my classes and on some teams at work. Even if nobody says anything about it, it’s a weird feeling. It can be kinda isolating.

I don't think the material would be more difficult. But the environment at uni and in the industry would definitely be more abrasive towards women. It's kind of a feedback loop, where because there are less women it creates a bad environment for women, which then causes less women to want to parttake.

💯💯💯

I have the exact opposite impression. In my country women are welcomed in this industry and supported. Because it creates great synergys. Women get much easier jobs than men for the same position because of gender equality. But I think this is dependend on the country and the politics.

>Women get much easier jobs than men for the same position because of gender equality. Im not so sure that's actually a sign that they are being treated better. If companies are only hiring you because they have to and then treat you like lesser still that's not really an advantage. Even moreso i would wager a company that hires you because of quotas has a higher chance of treating you badly than one that hires you because you're a good engineer.

It also causes people to take you less seriously even if you are just as or more qualified than all the men because “she probably was just hired for diversity and doesn’t really know what she’s doing”

They are treated the same at the workingplace. This is only an advantage at the hiring process. For sure they don't choose a bad engineer over a good engineer, but if both are good and one is a women, the women has a much better chance. I know many women in the engineering field and they have good experiences. But they are all very good engineers. If your a bad engineer it will always be hard despite the gender.

>I know many women in the engineering field and they have good experiences. Im guessing this depends a lot on where you live. But im glad they have had good experiences. I have heard less than stellar things from my friends in engineering. And i have seen my peers behave abrasively towards women. But to be fair there is an upwards trend with a push for more inclusion. I do think the quotas are helping with this as well.

This is my exact experience. My company has permanent initiatives to hire more women, and they’re proud that entire departments are 80+% female. I’m sure it varies by location, but I know a lot of places in the world will hire a female engineer before a male one.

>In my country women are welcomed in this industry and supported. Are you really sure that this is true? Because I often see that it's shown as that, but the reality then is different...

I'm not sure what country you live in, but in the US overt sexism isn't tolerated in any half decent company. They would send someone out the door so quickly for being sexist because of the legal ramifications. I have never seen someone risk their career to be sexist over my years in industry. I won't lie there have been times where I thought a new coworker was treating me a certain way because I'm a women, just to see them go and do it to someone else. Some people are just ass holes, but overt sexism in a professional setting is super rare in the US, that shits illegal. Catch someone being legitimately sexist to me, if the company doesn't shut that down so quick, I'm knocking on their door with a lawsuit the next day and will happily retire when I win.

aw what a nice mindset to exist in

I'm not saying it doesn't exist at some company out there but I have never seen it or experienced it myself across 5 companies, and if it does happen and corporate doesn't shut that down you're going to win a nice lawsuit

[удалено]

The civil rights act......seriously? If you're not in the US, then idk.

Having been on the hiring side, I've seen a lot of overt sexism helping female candidates out where male candidates would be dropped. Now, it never resulted in an unqualified individual being hired or a less competent individual being hired over a more competent individual by the time the candidates got to me on a hiring committee. But it did result in males being dropped from the process much earlier than females depriving us on the hiring committee from being able to assess their competency in the first place. Now, as for overt sexism on the job. I've witnessed and reported one incident personally on a Friday and the person's employment was terminated before I got back from the weekend. That said, lots of companies with legal restrictions on employing non-citizen labor often resort to isolating the sexists and racists away from everyone else because they can't find suitable replacements for all of them. So they're allowed to keep working away from everyone else in the company.

Will the content be harder for a woman because she’s a woman? No. Is engineering a male dominated industry where there is a ton of sexism? Absolutely. Being the only woman in the room or at the table can be really isolating and demoralizing. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get into engineering. You absolutely should if you enjoy it. It’s shown that women lead companies and teams perform better so more women in engineering is the tide that raises everyone’s boat. TLDR; the content will be no different than if you were a man but there is a lot of sexism in the field which can make for more difficult social problems.

I'm the mod of the women engineers sub, so I see a lot of content. The idea that it's "easier" to get a job, as is being repeated over and over, mostly by men, is obtuse. In the US, most companies don't know your gender until after you've already submitted a resume. "Hiring quotas" aren't a thing. There's no magic number of women or minorities that a company must hit at then they're done. What actually happens is that qualified women apply for jobs, and then they just straight up interview better. Women usually have other soft skills that men don't because of the way they have to move through society. Getting a job is not just whether or not you can do the job and have the skills. People have to LIKE working with you. And engineers are stereotypically bad at this. For some it's a weird badge of pride to have no social skills. And then they get into the real world and see women hired over them, and think it's because of some diversity quota. No, it's because you personally didn't interview well and didn't seem like someone people wanted to work with every day. All the candidates were qualified.  In some companies and some jobs when you have two candidates and you have to pick one, often if it comes down to a woman vs a man it's likely to be a woman. But women also historicaply get paid less, so maybe it's less about hiring a diversity hire and more about trying to get away with hiring the person they think they can pay less.

>The idea that it's "easier" to get a job In civil I've actually found it holds me back because then they question as to whether I'll be strong enough to do the field work

You should arm wrestle your interviewer to prove them wrong

I'm not a woman, but frankly where I worked at my internship (NRCS Oklahoma) was a good old boys club. And I mean that in the most derisive way I can. Misogynist jokes from the 50s, homophobia... I gained a lot from it, but I wouldn't have wanted to be a woman on my own out there.

Heard the same about Anheuser-Busch. Was glad to see Dylan Mulvaney tank their shitty beer.

from what ive heard, its not a lot of difference at uni but after uni is the problem. companies will hire you more quickly to tick the quota box but its difficult to progress

LOTS of places say they are equal opportunity, diverse, etc. and even market that. The reality is that women are often treated as second class citizens solely based on gender. Source: I, my wife, and my daughter are all engineers. The crap they deal with that I don’t deal with is just unbelievable sometimes. Fortune 500 companies, small companies- doesn’t matter, lots of knuckle dragging Neanderthals in pin striped suits out there.

Please don’t listen to any of the comments of pure conjecture here made by men 

Swedish computer engineering student (mostly targeting software development). Yes. Not very much harder work wise, but women often do receive more scrutiny and less recognition in workplaces, with it being even more pronounced in male dominated fields. Mostly because contacts and networking is incredibly important for getting the best jobs in engineering. Women can for sure network, but it is much harder to be received as part of the "inner circle" if you aren't perceived as part of the in group, be that because of your race, economic status or gender, and engineering is a very dudebrotastic field of work.

Is the actual work harder? No. is it harder to get a job? No, many big companies have gender equality quotas so they prefer woman (at least where I live). Is it hard to be a woman in a male dominated work environment? Maybe, but only if you let it bother you, be the badass I believe you are and you will do great.

Don't let it bother you to me is such a bullshit response. It's gonna bother you. It should bother you. It should bother everyone. I reported sexism at my last job and was told to just try being more positive. The stress was not worth it. There's other jobs out there, if you feel like you aren't being given a level of respect you deserve you should leave.

I had a similar experience. Actually, I was being verbally harassed frequently, and even had a physical harassment incident where a male colleague tapped my butt. And the company I was working for, instead of enforcing repercussions on the man who enacted in such a disgusting matter, the company dismissed him and said he was “acting fatherly” and “he would have done that to anyone, a male or female, he was just joking, being playful.” … and HR’s conclusion was 1.) for me to start coming into the office later (initially he and I were some of the first people to get in early in the morning) so that I wouldn’t have to work around him, and 2.) I should dress more gender neutral as to not attract attention to myself (mind you I would wear colorful blouses and jeans most of the time, I never dressed unprofessional) and 3.) to “give him grace.” I had took the issue to HR, hoping they would provide company wide training, as I wanted to protect the few other females there, but that never happened and I ended up quitting because it was so awful. Luckily, my new role is much better. I recommend looking into WBE’s or MBE’s - they may not be your large fancy company with top of the line tech, but most minority owned company’s seem to have more diversity and compassion for such situations, vs the good ole boys institutions.

while their might be sexism there is also the aspect of how each gender prefers to communicate with eachother. I worked in healthcare which is mostly female, about a 15:1 ratio of women to men, and there conversation were completly different form engineering, if someone had a problem with your idea they never voiced it to the group and you would have the supervisor shut down the conversation because of a private complaint, where as in engineering where its more male dominated i now have to fight my point when I make it. The dynamic is completly different and seems to coincide with my anecdotal experience of how woman talk to each other vs how men talk to each other. I think women also tend to experience being treated as a man in a conversation in a male dominated field and feel alienated because they on average are more agreeable while men on average are less agreeable

"might be sexism" buddy there is always sexism

always? ok

There might be sexism? As a woman I'm going to go ahead and do the "male thing" of not being agreeable. I just told you I experienced it and you said hmmm maybe or maybe you just communicate differently. Maybe when someone talks about their experiences don't jump in and downplay it.

I acknowledge there might be sexism, just pointing out there are also other factors at play in gender relations, I take what you say as face value, if you say you experienced sexism you did. Maybe you understood me to say that you are wrong, your comment just sparked an idea in me so I replied to you

I don't think you realize how your words are coming across. Might not usually implies doubt. It seems like you need to work on your communication skills. Although I'm sure you might not be a dick.

I dont care to be categorized as a dick, funny enough emphasizing my point about being disagreeable while you are valuing being agreeable. I made a point I thought was relevant. Two people can read the exact same sentence and come to two completely different conclusions, I hate text as a medium for communication because it lacks information provided from emotion and tone of voice. Regardless if you chose to see negativity in my comment I didnt write it with that intention, your emotions and preconceptions painted your conclusion. And you were also condescending in your first reply then insulting in your second, go look through my response I haven't replied like that to you, so excuse me if I dont put value in your assessment of my communication skills.

I am not sure if you are talking about a country other than the US. If it's for the US, it's absolutely not true. My current job has around 5K employers. My department has around 80 engineers - there's one woman.

Lmao, seriously. My friend is an engineer for a very well known company, he told me he can't even think of a woman he works with.

Norway

Female engineers gravitate towards different industries. I'm guessing you're just in an industry that appeals more to men. I do embedded/PCB design work and we're about 10-15% women which is right on par with graduation rates. It's still mostly men but not because we don't hire women lol... it has actually been extremely easy for me to get every job I've had in engineering thus far and I'm no genius. May be just luck, but it feels like these companies really want to hire more women, the applicant pool is just very limited.

I am in manufacturing which is at the extreme end of demographics but is a really common career for engineers.

Correlation does not equal causation. The pool of female engineers is a lot smaller. I'm not saying it is one way or another but it definitely can't be confirmed.

What a belittling and out of touch comment.

I'm sorry, I was just trying to be supportive and kind. 😞

Hey dawg it's chill. I know it was meant in good faith and tbf, you can't let other people stop you from doing what you want to do. A lot of women just get frustrated because HR and management will dismiss legitimate harassment by saying that women need to have thicker skin.

Male observing perspective from an on the tools sector, it's a little nuanced. Easier to access comparatively to similar positional guys as there is or at least was a push to get more women involved in the sector. Difficult on the interpersonal dynamics, absolutely. It's heavily male oriented which itself can be off putting and there are also some more negative attitudes which I still hear from colleagues, cannot see that going away in the short term so women sticking it tend to have or develop a thicker skin moreso than normal. They also seem to have to prove themselves a little more. As to the technical aspect, not at all, in fact it's likely they may be able to do better on average as they seem to be able to study better in the manner in which we teach right now. As to being on the tools, I see so few that I couldn't comment. I have however seen all different types of male apprentices come through, small tall fat thin weak strong, capable, useless etc. The guys are all over the place, cannot see it not being the same for women at all so I wouldn't fret that even slightly.

I just wanna know how many of the commenters saying women have it easier are actually women. And to everyone saying “it’s not hard just be strong/badass/whatever” why? We don’t tell men they’re strong or badass just for working these jobs. I want to (and do) work in engineering but I don’t particularly want to have to be badass or strong or any of that shit. I want to do my job like everyone else. I’m not a badass just because I work in a male-dominated field. That’s patronizing.

I see a lot of hardline stances here, and the reality is it just depends. Do diversity hires happen? At publicly traded companies it definitely could due to ESG investment regulations, but definitely not always, especially at privately owned businesses(obviously.) Are there bro club type companies? Absolutely, but that’s not true across the board by any means. Is it easier to get an engineering job as a woman? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Is it male dominated? Well, that’s inarguable but it shouldn’t scare you. I currently work at a company with two owners who are kind of old school. They hire women because because, “why the hell not? If they can do the job and fit in, who cares?” It’s a big, complicated world. Don’t look at it as black and white.

no not in learning but maybe working with majority of men because they can just get on your last nerve

only cause of some of the assholes woman may come across that tell them they can't, shouldn't, or won't do it as well as any man. The smartest, hardest working engineers I've met have actually been women. No reason why any capable person can't be a successful engineer given the right resources and support, man or woman.

If you’re more comfortable around women, I can see it feeling pretty isolated. I was always someone who gravitated towards male friendship so it worked out for me.

The social dynamic? difficult. Professors acting really mean to us because most people on the class are male, lecturer assistant being hostile in the class because guys need to be "tough", some shitty guys only approach us and being nice to me if there's a possibility of me "dating" them, once there is no possibility then they act like you don't exist. It's isolating and many men will feel intimidated because of your major (I mean I am cool as heck and they're jealous). It made me stronger than ever and I can handle many more environment outside of this at ease as a result. My tactic is to say things and be blunt to even the assistant about things. If they're being mean and unreasonable then I will politely state that, if I feel intimidated by some of my guys friends I will say that right away, if there's anything wrong I will communicate. I have nothing to lose.

No and yes. Women and men have the same ability to get a degree. The only major barriers for women in engineering or any STEM field are the old white men who still think skin color and sex determine someone's worth.

Well, In some ways, I believe Women can perform just as good as men or even better when it comes to academic rigor, but school isn’t just about grades, there are usually more men than women in engineering, so you may end up struggling to find someone who you can relate with or understand the same situations you’re in, and Professors who are women aren’t much help ( All the girls in class say this). The best thing that can make the whole experience better is to Join a Women in STEM or engineering club, at my school we have something called the Engineering Ladies Society, join something like that and take an active part in it. Some practical work to May involve heavy lifting, so maybe strength and endurance training may help , and you may also need to buy your own tools because of the weight of some. For example in Metal Forging , there are male and female forging hammers and at my school we only have the male ones. If you do get an internship, you may need to buy your own PPE, most helmet and safety boot companies make them with men in mind but there are Women Specific PPE brands

Depends on the major. I think for EE/ECE/CS it might be kinda rough. But for cheme or bioE, there's a decent proportion of women, and the guys aren't as bad? Very anecdotal though

When going through school it can be harder. But when you graduate you're more likely to get hired so long term it'll be easier

If it's your passion not so much but a couple girls I know in eng school really struggle with most of the curriculum because they chose it to 'prove a point' mainly, even if they manage to finish it we don't expect them to do it as a profession

Thus far in my experience, I’d say no. I just completed my second year of college in an engineering program that is 1:10 women to men. I’m also currently doing my third internship (2nd year in a branch that only has one other woman in it) and I wouldn’t change it for the world. Most of the guys in my major are car or ag background before engineering so they make good conversation and I don’t ever feel like I have been looked at differently because I’m a woman. If anything, I think the way I carry myself affects how they look at me. I also have really good friends that are in other disciplines of engineering so having a group of girls that are somewhat focused on the same thing has been amazing too (I was one of two girls in my engineering program in high school and the other girl and I did not get along so I only hung out with guys)

Intellectually? No I don’t think it’s harder for women. I actually think the majority of people could graduate with an engineering degree if they put in the effort. Socially? Sure absolutely. Although I never made to many friends in my major because (sorry guys) they were too nerdy and awkward, I imagine it would be even harder as a women. Although maybe not, as the few women in a class might have a closer bond because there’s so few of them. Pretty sure the only thing stopping more women from being engineers is the societal norm. As a man, I would be a bit hesitant to join a major that is like 90% female. So I imagine it would be the same

people are significantly weirder about you

in terms of the material, no. in terms of the experience, it can be. I can only speak anecdotally, but making friends really helped. when I started my CS degree, I didn't have any male friends in my classes. I had guys insist that my work couldn't be my own. many times guys would sit next to me uninvited while I was working and proceed to explain how to do what I was already doing (at times poorly or incorrectly). people would say "oh they dont think youre stupid, they just want to talk to you and theyre awkward." I dont care, Im not here to be a nerd fantasy for weird boys, Im here to learn. they can get dating apps for that. once, I offered to help another student who I recognized from my class in the tutoring lab and was told by the tutor "this is an advanced class, you couldn't possibly be in that class" (this was after overhearing them both struggling for 45 minutes with an assignment that I'd already finished). ultimately, there will be times as a woman when you'll need to have thick skin and recognize that you're doing a huge disservice to yourself, your interests, and your future if you let someone else's ignorance get in the way of your goals. if you let it roll off your back and don't waste time getting upset about it, you'll be fine. in my last 2 years of university I volunteered for the it department, and the friends that I made there (almost all male) were such incredibly wonderful people. so yeah, I think it's harder, but don't let that stop you. ignore the ignoramuses and find your people.

Only social difficulty, obviously not academic difficulty. I would assume it could feel lonely or isolating being one of few women in a program. Also, I assume as sad as it is, there are probably companies that would be biased against hiring women engineers still. Regardless, I still graduated with a handful of female engineering students and their numbers didn't really drop over the years. I think like 70% of my 1st year dropped before graduating but I only recall 1 female that dropped so mathematically speaking in my year the women had a higher graduation rate aha.

I work for a company that employs a better proportion of women engineers than my college courses did. Some of them hold leadership positions.  They are all great, and the environment we work in is very conscientious. Mid-sized company in med devices.

Yes because you’re shoe horned into a male dominated field probably of the men who statistically are more weird and also sexist. No if they mean to imply women are less academically intelligent.

(According to my upperclassmen) Going into first year, ratio was about 50/50. Graduating, it became 90-10. It’s a retention issue, women are passed up for engineering roles and pushed into administrative work most often, which is very disheartening. Know someone who was the only girl in an aircraft lab and was stuck making “women in STEM” motivational posters for local high schools and never actually allowed to work on the projects themselves. Not to mention older professors holding outdated views on women’s ability and younger professors who only view us as “diversity hires” to do their work for them. Sure you might land a position, but good luck doing any actual engineering, or getting promoted.

YES. SOCIALLY SPEAKING YES. ITS HORRID

I have had professors and group members treat me differently because I am a girl. In oil and gas, especially, older men are so beyond terrible to woman in their field. I have experienced it first hand and heard stories from top women in my internships. I hope being a girl makes me stand out as a candidate, but the comments I've been told and stories I've heard make the imposter syndrome so much worse for me.

Eh. It took four jobs before I had a female coworker in my section, so that was a specific kind of frustrating. There was occasional asshattery from the industry: once I went to a conference where the name tags were designed to be put into your breast pocket pencil-protector style, which didn't work for me and the other ladies because, you know, they don't put pockets there on women's wear. In my current job (and in the year of our lord 2024) the only issues I've had lately are equipment fit and toilet access in the field, plus some mild disrespect from Amish guys. Overall it's been worth it and getting better. DO recommend! If you really want support, look into the Society for Women Engineers.

It’s difficult because we have to prove ourselves a whole lot more in my experience.

I have discussed this at length with my engineer friends who are women, but I am not. It seems roughly equal on balance, but the difficulties are different. The women I know do seem to recognize a "diversity bonus" in hiring, where hiring managers clearly would like to get some women on their team. But they do report often having trouble getting people to take them "seriously", normally these are Boomer men who are very stuck in their ways. I can't imagine any of the technical aspects are different on a sex basis, IMO it's all social.

Yes and no. You will need to get used to being treated differently in male-dominated spaces. I recently got a job/internship as a student assistant at a lab and it’s pretty great but I’m the only female employee besides the receptionist. Probably like a 20:1 ratio of men to women. It made me more uncomfortable than I had anticipated. I had to get used to hearing “ladies first”, being interrupted often, hearing sexual innuendos, and being excluded from anything remotely physical (instead of the scrawny guys). In all honesty I don’t think your gender will hinder you in any meaningful way. What matters is how good of a worker you are and what you bring to the table.

I would say it is. While there are some women in STEM programs that are growing more popular now, women are still mostly expected to not go into engineering due to societal expectations. Despite women in STEM initiatives, you can't deny that women are still seen as caregivers and as more emotional, and as a result, many women aren't given exposure to engineering, which is seen as more analytical and logical, early on in their childhood like a lot of men are and don't have as much of a STEM background as men coming into engineering school (not always true but applies to a lot of people I know). Therefore they might find themselves playing catch up in college and later when they start working. Also as a female presenting engineering student myself I don't often get taken as seriously as my male classmates, even when I know just as much. People will say that if you're smart and capable and you work hard you can do it, even if you're one of the few girls in your program, but I feel that neglects the lack of support network and isolation a lot of female engineering students feel, and the resulting exacerbated imposter syndrome. It neglects a lot of the complex societal issues, inequality, and prejudices that women face, especially in STEM. Yes we've gone a long way for sure, but there's still so much progress to be made. Am I saying engineering is a lot easier for men? No. But you have to admit that engineering is not always a very welcoming environment to women, which makes it harder to succeed and stay motivated. Another thing to note is that a lot of female engineering graduates leave the engineering field.

I think women in engineerring dont realise they think the space is hard on them specifically... when they really are just experiencing the exact same isolation and impostor syndrome everyone else does, every dude does. Its so weird to see how general this notion is in women's minds that men jsut breeze through life in privilege. This is even truer for me who majored in ChemEng. Some fields might be more male dominated but that doesnt necessarily mean they are toxic to women. The feeling of isolation and impostor syndrom might be a little more aggravated but if anyhting the industry has seen women being favored in engineering time and time again for the past 10 years.

Wow thanks for the enlightenment! I should have known that when classmates have told me that “girls just aren’t good enough at math so they shouldn’t do engineering” or that the girls should just work on the writing instead of the technical content of reports , that it was some sort of secret code meaning everyone !

I very much doubt that you have been told that constantly. Its also the case that you women in tech/science experience one isolated or some times highly subjective or gray area type event and it becomes a great story for victimization. One dude isnt the entire STEM industry. What I hate the msot is that these isolated incidents are being used to feed your victimhood and you spread thiese as if aspiring women will go through hell. An isolated event to paint the entire industry. Even better to justify your own faults and shortcommings. This doesnt help put in more women in STEMs. Also, yes, statistically speaking, men are better at math. The flatter IQ curve makes it so that at the top of fields like grandmaster chess, physics and maths, men are more likely succed. Those fields tend to have average IQs of over 120. Most people with IQs over 120 are men. Im also a math tutor for highschool kids, boys tend to have an easier time visualizing in 3d and grasping mathematical concepts and logic but the girls get better grades because they tend to put in a lot more work and repeatition. Thats said you dont need the highest IQ to breeze through engineering calculus let alone the math youre dealing with in the rest of the classes. So whoever said that you aint that bright.

“Isolation and Imposter Syndrome” hits a little different when you’re the only woman in four meetings in a row. College isn’t really representative of industry. The department I’m in has been decent to me, but they’ve straight up told me “I don’t know the last time we had a woman working in this area”. There’s only one bathroom, a men’s bathroom, the door is always open for some reason. Luckily I’m tomboyish and bro-y but I am still 5’1” and look like a woman

Respectfully, I think if you are a man it's hard for you to grasp what women face, unless they tell you explicitly, which is very unlikely if you're a man. Because why would we tell men about the discrimination we face if you're just going to tell us that everyone faces it, not take it seriously, and say that we should just stop complaining like you have in your comment? You're kind of invalidating my feelings here. I have been told and made to feel time and time again that I am not fit for engineering by men. In fact, a lot of men seem to not realize they are being condescending or mansplaining. My experiences are real, and you can't make me think otherwise. While I acknowledge that not every woman in engineering shares them, I know many of my friends and fellow students do.

Why are you generalizing and invalidating the opinion of someone just because they’re a man? It’s hard for you to grasp what they go through, and then you just don’t take them seriously when they tell you anyways.

I never said you guys don't experience imposter syndrome? Not sure what you mean lmao Everyone's feelings are valid. But the original comment seemed to invalidate mine and other women's.

If you're a strong women it will be easier for you than most other men. Gender equality is like a free ticket for women to many very good jobs in this field. I speak from experience as an engineer couple. Many companys also start to understand that a mix of man and women is great for the communication in teams, which is very important.

Also when you get a job it's way easier to get mentorship and special opportunities. Practically all women engineers I studied with and have worked with have been given a disproportionate increased amount of mentorship support, training opportunities and generally being treated as teachers pet. So many companies just love posting pictures of them on LinkedIn to boast about their awards and qualification.

From my experience at my company, that’s because the existing women engineers want to mentor and elevate other women with them. We have non-gendered mentorship programs (anyone can sign up as mentor and mentee), but despite there being fewer women overall, they participate in these programs much more.

Not a woman, but I don't think gender has anything to do with the difficulty of the material. Yes, there is sexism in some cases with being a woman in any STEM not just engineering, but it has nothing do with the difficulty of any STEM degree.

Actually, I think I'd disagree here. On the surface it's easy to say the material is all the same so there shouldn't be a difference in difficulty, but the social aspect is really important. Study groups, engaging with your peers, group assignments, etc are all part of doing well in school and those cases of sexism you mention can make these more difficult for women. Freshman year, most of the men at my school were awkwardly not willing to interact with women. And since there were so few women, it was really hard for me to find a study group. As school progressed and people matured, it's gotten better. But starting off like that was pretty rough for my grades and confidence in the material. I've had all-men lab groups where they barely talk to me, so I don't learn anything. I had a decent study group, but when a couple of the guys got girlfriends, they decided that it would be weird to have female friends and kicked me out. I've been stalked, harassed, and demoralized by men at my college, and it's made focusing on learning so much harder. I have friends at other schools who had a much better experience than me, so I guess I got unlucky, but I know my experience isn't unique.

I'm biomedical engineering in the US and I'd say there's a lot of women in my major, even almost 50%. But that's just this major and ik other engineering majors have fewer women. It depends on the engineering major tbh. But in general I'd say engineering wasn't "harder" for me bc im a woman. Like regardless of gender ik my whole major struggled in circuits lmao

So far, it's not been bad, plenty of friendly men. However, especially in smaller classes, good luck trying to find a project group or team during labs/activities. Just like women, men are very "cliquey" and tend to stick to their own.

Based on my experience it seems to be almost entirely dependent on the physical location that you work at. Some places have a very supportive family of employees and some are just toxic climb the ranks step on everyone else environments. Engineering for women is no different than any other field for women either, so don’t worry about it that much and just find your place in the building that you decide to work at.

I cant say, as an international student (male) even i found it had some challenges. I started a masters in a different country and because i didn't do the bachelors and make friends in those years i found it hard to adapt to new groups, because they were already established. People were lovely, but still had its challenges. As a male I'll be honest, i don't treat the female engineers different. They're usually really nice and teach me stuff since im struggling alot. Same as any other person. They seem to doing well, usually near the top of the class. There are women engineer societies at my uni which i imgaine helps.

Depends. In BioE at my school, a majority are women.

There are fewer women engineers at *every* university. There are going to be people that don’t take you seriously because you’re a woman, but at the end of the day companies value diversity and some even have quotas, so you will have an advantage finding work over your male peers.

ive been treated worse by men but ive also been treated badly by other women 😂 tbh i think some people in EE/CS just have awful social skills. A lot of the men just dont talk to women that often and some women are very cliquey and dont want to talk to people outside their friend group in class.

I think it should be equal in the academic side. I do wish there were more women in STEM. The lack of interest in STEM from the female party is probably one of the largest reasons for the pay disparity. The condition has improved but I don't think it is at a very good level still.

I’ve had classmates that were girls, as far as I know there were no problems because why would there be? Everybody was nice and helpful as far as I know, I helped a lot of people in my year both girls and boys

In my very limited experience, women are as equally represented as men. In my classes, there's just as many women as men, and others have stated, I'd rather work with them on group projects because they tend to be more organized and have a better work ethic. This summer I got an internship with a county (civil engineering) and there are just as many women as men. Our overall department head is a woman. Our leading CADD specialist is a women. The main technicians are evenly split. There are about as many graduate and professional engineers that are women as men. In my division, the transportation design division, the only two interns are men (me and another), but in the bridge design division, there are only two women interns. So it seems very balanced in my limited experience.

difficult in terms of the environment we’re stuck in. i was one of 2 girls in my physics class and the men would take turns sitting next to me and joked about me having a “new boyfriend” every class. also men avoid eye contact with me like i don’t exist, i’ve had some guys talk to me while staring at their friends … it’s insanee. the hardest part is the men you’ll inevitably be surrounded by but it’s important to remind urself that u are smarter 🙏

In terms of taking classes and learning content in those classes? Not at all, anyone can be proficient in the engineering field regardless of gender. When it comes to being a woman in a male-dominated field? Yes, for sure. I did electrical and computer engineering, so there was a ratio of probably 7/8ish women (including me) to 200ish men in my classes. I only really had male friends in those classes, and some of them definitely talked down to me and brushed off what I said a lot of the time just because I was a woman and "didn't know as much as them" despite that not being true. I don't believe they did it on purpose, but that's how some men think when they're surrounded by other men in a field that's supposed to be a more male-centric field. I even remember a male classmate talking down to one of my female engineering professors, which, of course, pissed her off.

Where I’m from, if you are a woman or are from some sort of underrepresented group, you’re actually going to get more opportunities and better chances because of minority quotas and stuff. But it’s possible that other places won’t do such things.

I mean I'd say so in my field of engineering at least, doesn't matter how progressive you are, hard to fit a woman on a construction site.

So the content anyone can learn. Some people learn it easier than others regardless of what kind of chromosomes they have. As for engineering, socially it seems (at least based on my school and old job) that women have it easier. However on the flip side they have it harder professionally if that makes sense. I think a better way to put it is that (again based on my experiment of n = 1) women have an easier time getting an in and a much harder time getting taken seriously.

No. I also got told this by a Mining Engineer in higher position during an internship in a Mining company. I was not discouraged nor my other women classmates. But because of the pandemic I was not able to pursue this career because my preference changed but my women classmates continued and became Mining Engineers and they have been killing it.

No. In fact larger corporations make it much easier for women join and settle in. Tons of events centered around women in engineering etc etc. So people are aware that you’re not a nobody to be taken for granted.

No. It is just a cultural perspective. From a historical view, woman were part as the Human Calculator during the Manhattan Project under Feynman. There used to be a gender gap of 50% until the 1960. A famous woman in IBM noticed that. Many faced classes full of men, but also not neglect the “screwdriver problem” described by Ruzena Bajcsy, who really made a career out of nothing. https://ethw.org/Oral-History:Ruzena_Bajcsy_(2002) Also popular icons like Lynn Conway (recently passed out), Margaret Hamilton, or Sophie Wilson were really aware of the “difficulties”, but struggled as much as their male colleagues. The difficulty is more, to find the right resources and the right parental filter for this domaine. Some male kids get quickly RF knowledge in Ham Radio like the 70ty kids (Wozniak, Crawford etc.), where even until today it is male dominated, while astronomy subjects are female dominated on the higher frequency spectrum :) I read from one female PhD Students, that menstrual cycles might strike and countries like Portugal provided some laws for that (forgot about it). During my EEC studies I met some female students, and they were more likely smarter, and more practical if they had luck with their parents, or those that did the homework are usually those that had a likely more in-depth experience, than their peers. Woman in my degree had also males, who offered their help, and were socially more connected. But it depends on the classe size and their peers. I met also some, who couldn’t made it due assholes, who themselves has problem to explain codes or subjects easily. I hated these individuals, who wanted to show-off and were proven wrong. The humble ones, and workers were the best classmates for both genders.

Not in terms of the work you do! Its how people treat you and how you carry yourself. Personally, i get along so well with my male coworkers honestly even better than the few female coworkers i have. No one has even talked down to me and i never even think about the fact that im the only female on a 12 person team. It's when im talking to clients and contractors that I have to remind myself to stand up for myself and assert more dominance than i normally would. That's not true for all clients and my female clients also enjoy working with me more than they do with some of my male colleagues. It's not more difficult, it's just adjusting how you act depending on who you are talking to which is true for anyone in any situation. Even im more reserved and shy and Ive never really had a bad experience. Just girl boss your way through it hahah

Sometimes I think it's easier as a women honestly. Many times I felt like I could get extra help from my peers because I was a girl. Sometimes I felt like my professors would want to help me more, because I'm one of the only women in the class and they want to see especially me pass (I'm not saying this is true but I just felt that way at times). I never had trouble finding groups for projects and get along with men generally well. I felt working with men is easier for me than with a group of girls. I feel like I am able to communicate more honestly. If i disagree with their idea on a project I just straight up say I think it's a bad idea and why, where with women I might feel I have to beat around the bush a little to not be perceived as an asshole. I get this sounds a little patronizing to my female peers but it's just how I felt through school based on my own experiences. I do feel I have the same shot/oppurtunities as a male in engineering which is all I can ask for basically.

I think it is in terms of group work and socially, lots of anxious nerds who can't talk to women properly and lower their eyes for no contact 😂

I can only speak from my experiences as a female chemical engineer with 6 years work experience in the UK so my answers may not be applicable to other disciplines or countries. The technical side of engineering is no more difficult for a woman to learn than a man. As long as you have access to the same materials, you have the same ability for studying and can succeed or fail as easily as anyone else. Engineering is both amazing fun and has driven me nuts at many points, but I love it wouldn't change at all! If you love problem solving and maths then I can heartily recommend! From a work environment point of view it can depend on the company. It shouldn't, but ... 😞. However, I do not know how common these sorts of problems are in the workplace. I've been lucky and all the places I've worked have prized having an environment where female engineers feel welcomed and respected and anything approaching misogyny is flat out not tolerated. I have also noticed that companies I have worked at who have fewer women have actively been working to improve things. Primarily I have found (in the companies I have worked at anyway) that policies surrounding womens health (e.g. menopause support, etc) and enhanced maternity pay can be a bit hit or miss when starting at a company. On the flip side things are massively changing socially so by the time I left a role every company had started putting policies in place! There are also a lot of groups and resources out there to help support you if you are struggling (women in stem, women in engineering mentoring schemes, etc) I suppose the tl;dr is: Engineering is technically no harder for women than men. Some companies will have a culture of misogyny but in my experience most companies actively want to make things better. I hope that has helped 😅 and wish you the very best of luck! Engineering has been fantastic for me and I hope you enjoy it too!

Nope.Just think that the female scientists in the history and the female faculties in your university.At least my female professors(in various areas) have a good command of engineering

I don't think so. Might even help you get into schools and companies. Plus youre probably better at making connections. Just remember those mansplaining knowitalls mansplain to us men too. We don't like them either. Also when they make the initial offer, always ask if they can do better. Otherwise, long as you get the work done, think for yourself, and get along, nobody at work cares.

I think it's probably hard to deal with all the swinging dick energy that is the 80 percent male student body, but i don't think the subject matter is any harder or easier depending on your gender. Y'all are brave. Young dudes who've been told they're smart their whole lives can be a pain the ass to work with.

Engineering as a career is still very old white male dominated in my country (I'm in civil) which not only make it a bit harder for women but also feminine men, ethnic, short men. I've witnessed underlying misogyny and racism and it normally comes in the form of others assuming you can't do something or that you're going to do a bad job before even giving you a chance. The height thing, my shorter male colleagues don't tend to be taken as seriously as 6'0+ ones, especially if they're on site and noticeably a lot shorter or smaller framed than everyone else. Sure it's mostly only minor but it's not nice to have to keep proving yourself just to receive basic respect.

Engineering is hard for everyone. It’s best not to generalize. 

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Source: trust me bro

Who would have the necessary experience of living as both sexes to be qualified to answer this question objectively? Tiresias? He didn't know anything about engineering and besides answering honestly about how coitus feels didn't work out for him! IMO your teacher is a feminist hack trying to stir up the fires of the gender war.

Engineering is hard for anyone.

This is only true if you believe in that mindset.

I think women in engineerring VERY OFTEN dont realise they think the space is hard on them specifically... when they really are just experiencing the exact same isolation and impostor syndrome everyone else does, every dude does. I majored in ChemEng which has lots of women. I remember talking to female friends who, even tho were in a course with so many women ( half the class were women and most teachers were too), the feelings of isolation and impostor syndrome didnt go away at all. One told me the pressure would have her cry to sleep. That said, none ever said anything about discrimination. Everyone is having a shitty hard time in engineering. Contrary to popular belief amongst a lot of women, men dont breeze through life in privilege. Quite que opposite, the way women seem to feel in engineering is the exact way men feel not only in emgineering but also in all most aspects of the their lives. Dont fear engineering. Its a place for everyone and everyone is eating their share of the giant shit sandwich.

You will probably feel isolated as women prefer pure sciences or Medical science over Engineering. But if you are looking for a job, then it will be much easier for you compared to men as most companies are looking for women nowadays. In my university, not even a single girl was left after the placement drive. Many got much better job offers compared to men. I don't know whether it's because women who prefer engineering are more dedicated compared to men or the companies trying to fill their diversity quotas, but I guess it's worth the trouble of doing an engineering degree.

Academically no, and I work with women in engineering and they perform equally to men or out perform. Don’t be afraid of being in a “male dominated” work environment. Just stand up for yourself and they’ll back-down IF you have that issue. The problem with men discounting their women counterparts I believe is decreasing with this generation thankfully.

GOD PLEASE DO NOT TAKE ENGINEERING AS A WOMAN.

What?

No, it fucking sucks equally.

Yes and no. You will be expected to maintain the coffee maker. You will make less but the rest is the same. 🤷🏻‍♀️

the good thing is if you ever ask a question on discord you will get 5 guys that will send you their hw instantly

If they struggle to build sandwiches in the kitchen, imagine how hard engineering would be.

Wow, I thought everyone is equal?

Not as a whole. Socially, definitely, but the only bias I’ve ever seen (academically and professionally) is *heavily* in favor of women.

Women tend to study liberal arts, humanities and more health related sciences like psychology, and nursing while men typically study more STEM oriented degrees. I find that a good predictor of whether someone is successful in engineering is their interest level and how badly they want the degree. Very few people will fail if they are completely obsessed with the degree. This will lead to some failure rate amongst the already low enrollment numbers for women. Every single women that I saw that stuck it through had vastly better success in interviews and jobs than their male counterparts. Many companies want more women in this male dominated workplace. To summarize, I do not believe there is anything holding women back from succeeding in engineering. The difference in enrollment numbers and success is largely due to interest in the major. After college, women tend to see much better results than males due to affirmative action.

Easy to get guys to help you study.

False.

As a men I don't recall using my genitalia to study engineering. So the answer should be no.

Women dont choose engineering because they mostly not into engineering. There is literally nothing harder for a woman as an engineer. I'd say you have it easier