Category Archives: women in engineering

Workplace dress-codes: a win for the ladies!

20 Saturday Oct 2018

Posted by in Engineer Chic!, Marketing Yourself!, women in engineering

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The workplace is no safe haven from the ongoing battle between the sexes. Lets face it, in most cases (pay, promotions, team events that mostly involve drinking) the guys usually come out on top. Women are slowly closing the gap, but there is still much more to do. However, there is one domain where there is a clear advantage to being a woman in the workplace: work attire.

Whether it be business casual, business formal or any other variation of “work clothing”, I’ve observed an unmistakable edge that women have over the men in the office.

In the Summer, while my male colleagues at my Firm slog all day and night in their identical grey, blue and black suits, which grow ever more creased as the work week wears on, sweat patches expanding under their shirtsleeves and feet swelling and blistering in tight dress-shoes, I get to breeze around in sleeveless dresses and sandals.

Blue dress

This is me wearing a green dress. You may say, “No Rhea, its a blue dress!” But don’t fight me on this, just accept it. This dress is green.

In the Winter, when staffed in snow-stormy cities like Minneapolis or Chicago, I bundle up with tailored, down-lined coats that come down to below my knees, thick pants with sweaters, scarves, classy gloves and boots. My poor male teammates shiver away in their not-nearly-as-warm coats worn over thin wool suits, their feet once again blistering in frozen dress shoes and hands and faces freezing due to their macho choices to leave their gloves and scarves at home.

I also get to change my outfits every day of the week; my clothing being small in size and weight, and easy to fold. The men, however, end up wearing the same suit four days in a row, and having to carry their steam-ironed suit jackets in a separate bag on the plane.

I can express my personality with different colors and styles from day to day, choosing outfits, shoes, jewelry and accessories to match my mood or the season. The men have very little wiggle room to express themselves, although I will give credit to those who at least try and differentiate themselves with watches, cuff links, tailored suits or in some cases, embroidering their initials on the torso of their shirts. Unfortunately for them, these fancies often cost a small fortune compared with women’s clothing and accessories.

Pink and blue dress

Business meeting, conference, after work drinks or holiday party. This look is very versatile. Choose a style that suits your body shape and get it in a few colors, necklines and lengths.

Our clothing is also much more versatile, allowing us to do more with less when we travel. I’ve worn the same black shift dress with a cardigan and flats on a regular business-casual work day, threw on a suit jacket and black pointy heels for a client steering committee meeting, and swapped the suit jacket for a trendy scarf and handbag for an after-work dinner meeting. You could mix and match five tops with a pencil skirt and a pair of trousers and look completely different each day of the week!

The dress code for women is also much more fluid and ambiguous, meaning we don’t have to try as hard to conform to it. A fitted dress and low heels could pass for both business casual and business formal, while men need to swap out their suit pants for slacks or jeans to look anywhere close to business casual.

When I worked as an engineer on a construction site, I got away with a ton more than the men could, choosing a bright pink hard hat, steel-capped safety boots with pink lightning bolts along the sides and breezy, light-colored blouses over well-fitted skinny-jeans worn under my reflective vest. I was truly Engineer Chic! The men on the other hand plowed around in identical, checkered, short-sleeved shirts and baggy, shapeless jeans. I almost felt sorry for them!

Now there are those that feel that having limited choice makes things simpler in getting ready in the morning, or packing for a trip. These people are right! Still, for me, and for many women, I love that I can still be myself and let my personality shine in the workplace! I love that I get away with brightly painted nails and designer shoes and handbags at work.  Being a consultant, I spend most of my life at work, so I love that I can be comfortable wearing what I love during that time.

And if that weren’t enough proof that women definitely win work attire, consider this: women don’t have to shine their shoes!

Mindblowing

I encourage other women engineers to bring their whole selves to their workplace. If dressing up is your thing, or if you want to try something a little more daring, just go for it! Don’t be afraid to be you. Don’t be afraid that people will take you less seriously if you dress well or express your creativity. Go ahead and nurture that creativity and cultivate a sense of style. This may even help you later on in your career as a high-powered manager or executive who means business and looks the part too!

Of course there are huge caveats to this message. You may work in a setting that makes you wear a uniform, or overalls, or dressing up may just be the most terrifying or soul destroying thing you could ever think of doing, or you may have another reason for holding back.  One colleague said she dressed down to avoid another #metoo situation,  after facing one at her previous employer. I find this really sad,  and very, very real for a lot of us. In promoting gender equality in the workplace and tackling sexual harassment, we should work to build a workplace environment where everyone feels safe to express themselves.

And this should go without saying, but please stay well within the boundaries of you company’s dress code and in the realm of common sense. Frumpy, torn, dirty and very revealing looks are just not professional, and also not at all chic, so do give them a skip!

And remember, in your walk, your talk, and the clothes you choose to wear, always be Engineer Chic!

Follow me on Instagram for more looks for work, travel and leisure @rhea_lism

On the degrading comments made by an engineering society leader

08 Wednesday Aug 2018

Posted by in Diversity, South Africa, Unconscious bias, women in engineering, Women in technology

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More girls are starting to choose careers in STEM, and early wins have been made in getting more women into leadership positions, having a hugely positive effect on the situation for other women in their organizations. Despite this, the fabric that these incredible leaders have woven is still thin, and influencers can still negatively impact the struggle against overt discrimination, unconscious bias, and the endless micro-aggressions from family, friends and co-workers that women in STEM face.

My personal experience speaks volumes to that struggle, and the many comments on this blog over the years tell me that I have not been alone in this.

  • In high-school, I had to lie to my parents and apply to mechanical engineering in secret, to avoid them forcing me to do something medical.
  • Instead of congratulating me for getting a scholarship interview at a mining company, a teacher decided to expound on how difficult the working environment would be, and wouldn’t I rather do something like medicine or teaching?
  • Upon learning I had received a full scholarship to study mechanical engineering, a friend’s parent remarked, “But why? That’s so…manly!”

If I wasn’t hell-bent on becoming an engineer, and if my circumstances had not been so fortunate, the ‘social and proximal factors’ around me would have forced me into a career outside STEM, and I would never have known the joy of doing what I absolutely loved, what I was born to do!

It thus sickens me to read that the CEO of a South African civil engineering society SAICE, Manglin Pillay will not be asked to step down from his position, after commenting in a SAICE magazine column (also posted on his LinkedIn profile) that South Africa should stop investing in women engineers.

In the column, Pillay quoted from a study by Leeds Beckett’s School of Social Sciences and the University of Missouri that women in gender-equal societies choose care or people-orientated careers while men tend to choose careers that orient them to things and mechanics.

Pillay’s conclusion was that women prefer not to occupy high-profile executive posts because they would rather have “the flexibility to dedicate themselves to more important enterprises like family and raising children than to be at the beck and call of shareholders”.

Pillay goes on to explain that the sole reason for women leaving the field is to raise children (and not the overwhelming gender discrimination they face every day), and that the gender pay gap does not exist, and if it does, its only because women are so congenial in negotiating salaries – a trait that comes from the “maternal instinct”.

Gosh, I am baffled at the level of ignorance in these statements. Where to even begin?In my years as a volunteer at ASME – the leading global society of mechanical engineers – I could have never imagined any of its leaders making remarks such as this – not least of all because many of them were women themselves, which set an excellent example for the industry.

Pillay’s comments are outstandingly irresponsible for a thought-leader in his position, with the influence he has over the industry, and are a terrible reflection on the organization of SAICE. His comments directly work against progressive organizations like WomEng and SWE, who work to balance the negative influence that society holds for girls pursuing STEM careers.

Worse still, his statements normalize and justify similar beliefs held by men (and women) on the role of women in the workplace, perpetuating harmful societal beliefs at a time when women have barely begun to experience the smallest of wins in closing the gender pay gap and in starting conversations about unconscious bias. One example of unconscious bias: a man leaves to tend to a sick child, he’s applauded as a hero. A woman does the same and she’s sloppy.

In addition to being wildly inappropriate, his conclusions are also horrifically false, and telling of a deep-set belief that women don’t belong in senior leadership roles. 

As highlighted in Professor Alison Lewis (Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment at my Alma Mater – the University of Cape Town) in her open letter to SAICE, the research Pillay quoted, “does not, in my view, lead to the conclusion that there should be less investment in attracting women into STEM careers.”

The research clearly states, “that the career and education choices made by girls are a function of both social as well as proximal factors”.

Reading the examples I gave above, it doesn’t take much to understand what “social and proximal factors” influence a girl’s decision not to take science as a subject, despite them excelling at it.

“On the contrary”, Lewis goes on to say, “the only way to fight for gender equality is by inspiring girls about STEM careers, promoting access to STEM disciplines and changing work environments to actively support women’s contributions. The development of women role models in the engineering professions is another vital aspect. This is the only way we will be able to change the real choices that are available to girls. Even “gender neutral societies” are still very far from gender neutral!”

And that pretty much sums it up for me. SAICE – with their all-male leadership team of Presidents and Vice-Presidents – should look long and hard at who they are, because what I’ve learned in my years of serving the C-Suite, is that the attitudes of the CEO are pervasive throughout the organization, and directly influence its culture. In SAICE’s case, the effects of an article such as this could poison an industry.

For some research-backed literature on some structural issues women face in the workplace, check these posts out:

What is unconscious bias?

Mentorship and sponsorship for career adancement

UPDATE:

The SAICE has since decided to sack Manglin Pillay, after calls from the engineering community and its members forced them to do the right thing.  A win for gender equality, although I still believe that having at least one woman on the SAICE Board would have had a major effect on its initial decision to keep Pillay in the position, thus avoiding the embarrassment and member outrage caused.  This is a fair lesson for the Boards of private and social sector companies and non-profits.

DISCLAIMER: I am in no way a spokesperson for ASME or for any other organization. All comments and views are strictly my own and do not reflect that of any organization I may be affiliated with.

Mentorship vs. Sponsorship for career advancement

27 Monday Feb 2017

Posted by in Career, Diversity, Engineer Chic!, Marketing Yourself!, women in engineering

≈ 3 Comments

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As mentioned in my last post, one of the most critical factors to achieving success in the workplace is finding sponsors – the right sponsors – who will open doors for you and actively support you as you grow. Malcolm Gladwell listed this as one of the 3 critical factors for meteoric success in his book, Outliers (along with 10,000 hours of hard work and a large spoonful of luck) and Sylvia Ann Hewitt wrote a whole book about it: Forget a Mentor, Find a Sponsor

Until lately, this was a pretty new concept for me. Looking back at my career thus far however, I can definitely see how sponsorship has shaped my path. Let me share a bit of what I’ve learned.

What is a sponsor, and what is a mentor?

A mentor is someone who gives advice. She/he is typically a person more senior than you, who has taken an interest in your development, growth and success and tries to guide you as you define and follow your journey, sharing experiences, knowledge and suggesting course-corrections. You can think of a mentor as someone who helps you passively.

A sponsor, however, is a senior person who actively helps you follow your journey (or leap-frog into a whole new journey you never even dreamed about). They would typically hand you a challenging assignment (giving you that chance to show off your fabulous skills and get noticed), connect you to an advantageous person or opportunity or flat out “bang the table for you” when you come up for a promotion or an assignment.

Why is this important?

I know that the engineer in every one of us believes that she/he should be valued primarily on the virtue of his/her work, but that simply is not the case.

Organizations are made up of people, and despite them being governed by policies, are in the end, just a bunch of human beings being human beings. At every level within an organization, irrespective of company culture, there are “politics” at play. People build networks around their interests, gravitating towards people they get along with and people that can/will help them in some way now or in the future. Little communities emerge at the water dispensers or on the weekends. As individuals in a community achieve greater success, they tend to start creating opportunities for others in that community to also succeed, keeping their “followers” close to them at every level.

Very clearly then, in order to get ahead, you need to be doing a lot more than just showing up to kick ass at your daily tasks!

The sponsorship cards are stacked against women

McKinsey & Co. teamed up with LeanIn.org to do some killer research on Women in the Workplace, and discovered some important – and unsettling – facts.

“Women are three times more likely to rely on a network that is mostly female. Because men typically hold more senior-level positions, this means women are less likely to get access to people with the clout to open doors for them.”

 

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Although the number of senior women leaders in a typical US workplace is increasing, senior leadership is still largely dominated by men. This means that a woman is less likely to get access to senior level people who can really open doors for them. This effect deepens the more senior a woman becomes. 20170226_3 201702262

 

So what does all of this mean for you and I?

In the field of engineering, cybersecurity and others, where senior women are still very few and far between, women are even less likely to have access to senior women sponsors. In my last post I talked about how its a total misconception that women don’t sponsor each other. The truth is, they do! What we also need to start doing a lot more of, is actively seeking out male sponsors as well, with the ability to really open doors for us.

It also means that as we progress, we need to be acutely aware that younger women will be seeking us out as sponsors, and that we have the duty to create opportunities for them and connect them to a more balanced network of men and women.

My next post going to be on how to go about finding a sponsor. Stay tuned for more!

 

Women in cybersecurity: building community and sponsorship

14 Tuesday Feb 2017

Posted by in Career, Diversity, Engineer Chic!, women in engineering

≈ 3 Comments

Its been a few years since I attended a “Women in Engineering” seminar and I must admit that I’ve felt quite disconnected from my original purpose for starting this blog. Having left engineering for consulting, and having made a major career change into IT Infrastructure and then into the adjacent field of cybersecurity, I found it impossible to craft and authentic post as a champion for women in engineering. What would I talk about? What life experience would I draw from?

Today however, my mission was reignited at the RSA conference in San Francisco. For the first time in RSA history, there was a diversity-focused session (finally RSA). I spent 3 hours hearing from prominent and inspiring women in my field, about the very real challenges they faced. And guess what? They were exactly the same issues I had experienced as a young mechanical engineering student, and later, a graduate working in mining in the rural regions of South Africa. Sure, the lingo and the working environments may be quite different, but the experience of being a smart, ambitious woman in a male-dominated and highly exclusive field was the same with this group.

Interestingly enough, the key take-away from today’s sessions was not the need for women to hone their negotiation skills, nor was it to encourage women to “lean in” and emulate more masculine-like qualities to get ahead (I write this despite my immense respect for Cheryl Sandburg and her organization). No, the one thing that the speakers listed consistently as the key to achieving success in your career is one, ironically, innate to us as women: building a support network, a community within which you can feel safe to speak up, reach out and be bold. The last speaker, Valerie Plume (former CIA agent and role-model for women) said that studies have shown that women are able to build higher levels of trust with others and are generally perceived as being far more trustworthy than men. A young speaker (herself still an intern) gave some fantastic advice to a concerned mother/cyber professional, saying that her daughter should take a friend along to robotics club (even one who had no interest in robotics) to help her feel more comfortable among the over-jealous (and quite possibly highly insecure) high school boys, dubbed the “arrogant geeks”. I could relate. After all, I have been surrounded by them since I was 17.

One woman complained that she had somehow fallen into the role of bridging divides in her team, and that people constantly brought her their issues with others to help them figure out. She wanted to know how to get out of this hole. Valerie however advised that she was in fact in a privileged position and that she should rather leverage that POWER and turn it into success. Having listened to Elaine Seat’s simply outstanding talk “Selling your Ideas in the Absence of Authority” a total of 3 times at various ASME events, I am completely with Valerie on this one! (Look out for another post on this topic). Simply put, women should be looking for OPPORTUNITIES use skills so fundamental to being women – the ability to build trust-based relationships – to their advantage in advancing themselves and others in their fields.

A theme that was touched on, yet not explored in a meaningful way (hint for next year, RSA!) was the idea of mentorship and sponsorship. A common misconception is that women don’t support each other. Recent research on this topic suggests this is true in cases of “token diversity positions”, where there is only one spot for a woman on the team (think early-90’s). This creates heightened competitiveness over the one seat at the table, inevitably resulting in any incumbent being treated with disdain. Once women (and this applies to other minority groups too) are confident that they are not competing for the only seat at the table, they do the complete opposite: they throw their support behind each other, even exhibiting the “mini-me” attributes that men have been using to bring their younger-selves along with them as they rise.

Sponsorship is a theme that I will be exploring in the next few blogs. I have been incredibly fortunate to have found mentors, and more importantly, sponsors throughout my career. I’d like to share some of my experiences, as well as hear from others on how they have succeeded in finding effective sponsors. Please reach out with your thoughts.

#RSAConference2017 #RSA #RSA2017 #womenincybersecurity #womeninsecurity #valerieplume

 

Female Engineers – Winning with the Velvet Glove

31 Thursday Jul 2014

Posted by in Career, Diversity, women in engineering

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So this blog and others like it have exhausted the facts and figured about women in engineering and how wonderful it all is for us to be there. I want to talk about something I’ve experienced that gave a new spin on why companies should hire and promote female engineers. Not all female engineers will agree to this but there is something to say about the inherent soft-skills that women possess and how this can be put to use to the advantage of the project team.

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One of the first female engineers in the South African construction industry told me that a female engineer should always be wearing a boxing glove on one hand, and a velvet glove on the other. Well most of my career thus far has involved me using the boxing glove, in recent months I’ve come to understand what the old bird meant about the velvet glove.

On my first project with my new company, I was eager to earn respect within the team as a project engineer.  Somewhere along the way, I started doing more Client-interfacing. I coordinated and accompanied the Clients team to site-visits, met with people to diffuse difficult situations and managed their (very long) wishlist of changes and corrections on the plant. The more I worked in this role, the more I liked it and the more my PM/ project sponsor assigned me to these tasks.

Was this hard engineering? No – really it wasn’t. The hard-engineering decisions were still taken between corresponding engineers on their team and ours. Yes, I missed the hard engineering of being on site and making things happen, and the pace and impact of project engineering. But there is a certain level of technical know-how required to interact with a technical Client’s team, that made it necessary for an engineer to do this. And somewhere along the way, I guess someone realised that I could be good at this.

Having a really large Client’s team (up-side of 20 individuals) it really was difficult to manage every request and expectation. I flew to the middle of the Northern Cape, as well as to Cape Town several times to meet with individuals and groups to ensure they were being personally attended to. I really put my heart into this as I could see its affect on the project and our image as a company. I find that so often, we forget the impact of the image we portray at a grass-roots level after a project is sold.

I left the Company before the project’s completion and before I did, I had many calls from members on our Client’s team to say goodbye and good luck. Although, truthfully, I probably did less for the project’s execution than any other engineer on the team, it was unbelievable to hear the feedback I received. Contemplating on it, I realise that this is something that maybe is missing from engineering consultancies. Balancing Client relationships with project progress is a PM function, but with the masses of time a PM has to spend on project execution, he/ she can’t also afford to take care of the requests and concerns of an entire Client team as well.

Female engineers are ideal for this role that requires charisma as well a technical prowess, professionalism and charm. Being  – for the most part – better communicators than men, less intimidating and more accommodating, women at the Client-interface can reshape the image of a company.  Women with good interpersonal skills can be trained to work at the apex of technical, project and social interactions – perfect for Client relationship-building in a technically-minded industry. Their unique set of skills tied to their femininity can be a great advantage to their careers and this should be leveraged by project managers and sponsors.

Goldiblox – No more Barbies for Future Engineers

15 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by in Engineer Chic!, women in engineering

≈ 1 Comment

I have always counted myself lucky that my parents gave us legos and puzzles to play with as kids instead of dolls.  My two sisters and I kept ourselves entertained with spatial problem-solving toys, although they weren’t very popular with our young friends. Two of us are now engineers and the other a successful graphic designer.

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Debbie is an awesome, young female engineer who realised the need for a good quality toy aimed at developing problem solving skills in girls. This is how Goldiblox was born.

Goldieblox YouTube Video

The project was funded in five days. I’m just bummed that I didn’t think of this first!

Goldieblox Follow-up Video

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Do Female Engineers Intimidate Men?

19 Tuesday Mar 2013

Posted by in women in engineering

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In response to a comment from a reader, I am inspired to write this post.  My anonymous reader says that although she is fiercely passionate about mechanical engineering and metallurgy, guys seem to prefer social girls over technical ones. Her last boyfriend even left her for someone who worked in the fashion industry!

At the risk of sounding like a magazine agony-aunt, let me have my two-cent’s worth on this topic.

pretty-nerdIn my personal experience and from what others have told me, guys generally tend to be very intimidated by a woman who is in a highly technical field.  Now here I am talking about guys who you’d meet at the gym or at a party, not guys at work (they are intimidated for other reasons but we’re not going to go there in this post).  I have had a guy at a part flat-out admit that I being an engineer was “actually quite intimidating”. Soon after that, he made some excuse and left to talk to a far more fun-looking girl.  I, for one am convinced that guys are intimidated by smart or technically-focused women.

So, what to do about it?

#1           Be more fun and sociable.

This is what most young, female engineers feel they need to do to attract men. Please girls, don’t think this way.  For one, we are not naturally the life of the party. Not only are we – for the most part – more inclined to being introverted or socially awkward, but we also have serious studies and careers to think about. We just can’t afford to spend three nights a week entertaining ourselves and others. But we also know its going to pay off…and soon!  If a guy can’t handle you the way you are – then its just not meant to be. Sorry.

 #2           Understand the man

Let’s take a minute to think about why a man might be intimidated by an engineer woman.  Our Society is a funny thing that tends to put us all into neat little boxes. That’s how it operates most efficiently. From the time we’re small children, little boys are given plastic screwdrivers and buckets, and little girls are presented with curly-haired dolls. This follows us our whole lives through as everyone and everything around us reinforces these ideals placing us under massive pressure to succumb to these norms as child-bearers and care-givers. Engineering women however – necessarily strong willed, independent, high-earning and technical – go against the grain of some really deep-seated beliefs.  Can we really blame these poor guys for fearing us?

  (My folks gave my sisters and I Lego and puzzles instead of dolls resulting in two engineers and one graphic designer. Thank you mum and dad!)

 #3           Move in the right circles               

As much as you don’t want to hear this, perhaps you would find more relationship success with others of your own species?  I don’t just mean technical men and engineers, but anyone who has a similar status in Society and earning-potential.  As most engineers are destined to become managers, a man may feel uncomfortable knowing that you are more likely to take care of him than him taking care of you.  The male ego should never be ignored (refer to the paragraph above) and as a professional, it’s only natural to want to nest up with someone you can relate to.  Although incredibly difficult to give up an existing relationship, if you are looking for a new one perhaps consider hanging about the chemical engineering building at lunch or getting your friends to introduce you to an up-and-coming businessman.  Word of advice: as tempted as you may be, stay away from the management consultants! Trust me; it’s just not worth it.

 #4           Timing, timing, timing

These days, as the world moves away from traditional notions which made early-marriage a necessity, professionals –men and women – are choosing to get married later on in life.  Young, successful professionals realize that the world is theirs for the taking and no parent or pastor has the sway to force you to settle down early anymore.  This means that us young, career-focused ladies may have to change our ideas of being single or dating (instilled by our conservative mothers) and embrace our extended freedom and youth!

 This is a double-win for us. Not only will we have complete freedom to chase our careers and dreams without the burden of kids and a husband, achieving more success in life as a result, but when we do decide to seriously look for a mate, we will be more mature, sure of who we are and what we want, and will – if we’re smart – have created a large network of industry professionals to launch our search! (Who said LinkedIn was just for job-hunting?)

So I hope to have hit home on some points which other young, professional women – especially engineers – have to deal with.  What’s interesting is that in many places in the world, women right now are at a turning point full of excitement and uncertainty. We are the generation to write the rules for women in this field so it’s bound to be a little rough as Society settles into having this new species of females around.

Dealing with Gender Discrimination – my experience

08 Saturday Dec 2012

Posted by in Career, women in engineering

≈ 3 Comments

I have become more involved on site now that the construction phase of the project is in full swing. Its amazing to see the months and months of heard work all coming together. I enjoy walking about site and inspecting the installation of the mechanical equipment I was involved in from design phase through procurement and finally installation and commissioning on site.

Unfortunately, being based on site has its disadvantages as well.

For one – I have to put up with a whole lot of construction guys gawking at me the whole time and passing crude comments as I walk by. From supervisor level up, the men have a great deal of respect for me as one of the Project Engineers on the job and someone who is involved in so many aspects of the project. On the lower, labourer level, this is not the case. Although I try and be the bigger person and keep a level head about these things, sometimes its not possible to do that.

I want to share an experience I had recently on site that caused me particular annoyance. A friend of mine recently posted this picture on my Facebook page. At first I was a bit peeved but didn’t take it up with him – it was a joke.

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Shortly after he posted it, I was walking about site inspecting some piece of equipment. I was asking the guys working in the area about the work they were doing on the machine. One of the guys stood there smirking at me which made me feel a little uncomfortable. I turned to walk away and he whistled at me to return the way we d on site if someone is doing something unsafe, so I went back to see what he wanted.

Chauvinist Pig: I am hungry

EngineerChic: How is that my problem?

Chauvinist Pig: I didn’t have breakfast.

EngineerChic: Again, how is that my problem?

Chauvinist Pig: Go and get me some breakfast. *huge smirk*

EngineerChic: What is your name and company number?

Chauvinist Pig: Why. No I wont give it to you. Why do you want it?

EngineerChic: I am an engineer, you idiot. I am not here to make you food! I am reporting you to your supervisor.

Okay – thats not exactly what I said. The ‘site-lingo’ I used was significantly more colourful than that but you get the point…

I reported the Chauvinist Pig to his supervisor and head of department immediately. They were livid that one of their staff passed such a stupid and irresponsible remark. In fact, his supervisor took off at a run to go and find the guy immediately. He is now facing disciplinary charges and may be fired (although that is not likely). Its great to know that despite the losers you get on site, there are educated and decent men out there with half a brain and who realise that the ladies on site are there for a purpose no less important than anybody else’s and should be respected as co-workers.

Later, being a typical woman, I started feeling bad about how things turned out and whether I had made too big a deal out of this. I asked my boyfriend (also a mechanical engineer who has been working in the field for years) what he would have done if someone had told him something like that. He said he didn’t know because nobody would say something like that to a male engineer. It was that moment when I realised that I was completely correct in how I handled the situation. I had truly experienced gender discrimination.

I wonder whether my friend would have posted that picture on my wall if he knew the real challenges I faced every day – the same challenge that countless other female engineers have to face on a daily basis.

What Makes a Woman Successful in Engineering?

01 Thursday Nov 2012

Posted by in Career, women in engineering

≈ 3 Comments

We’re well into the second decade of the 21st Century.  Most countries are socially and politically stable and democracy reigns supreme. What this has meant in many places around the globe, including South Africa is that there are a whole lot more opportunities for those who were previously disadvantaged – including women. As more and more women are educated and enter fields in engineering, science and business, there is a diversification of characteristics amongst them.  No longer can we lump ‘female engineers’ all into one very limited category. In my own personal sphere of experience, I have met all sorts of women engineers who have achieved vastly different levels of success in their careers.

This is an interesting observation and leads one to start asking questions: what does one woman have that another doesn’t  What specific set of opportunities and disadvantages influences a woman’s career success in the engineering field? What characteristics or personality traits, secrets and knowledge do some women possess which allow them to become very successful in their field?

You might turn around and tell me that this topic has been covered extensively for the likes of both men and women and that everybody knows where to go to find books to aid your career. While this may be very true, I think that women who find success in the field of engineering are not typical. They are unique in their environments and possess a unique mix of personal skills and traits. Engineering is a highly technical field which can give rise to snobbery and elitism in some circles or outright discrimination in others. Information is often hoarded away from women entering the field – making it even harder for them to achieve the competencies of their peers. Sometimes, the engineering field is physically demanding or even dangerous and strenuous and a woman may find it simply impossible to contend with and surpass the performance of her male counterparts.  How then do women in these (rather common) circumstances achieve success despite overwhelming barriers?

What is the trick?

In this post I want to take a different approach than the usual female engineering writer.  Instead of yet another article about how difficult it is for women in this field, and how much it needs to change, I am instead looking at those individuals who have broken through these barriers somehow and presenting some suggestions as to how you can do the same.

If I were a journalist or researcher on the topic, I probably would be able to give you all the stats on what exactly it is that makes some women excel and others not, but unfortunately I’m just a female engineer wondering about these questions just as much as you are.  However, as far as difficult fields go, I probably am at the vertex of some of the most difficult one can find herself in – the mining industry and the construction industry. Also, I am ALWAYS the only women, the youngest and often the only person of colour in the room (in post-apartheid South Africa)…so maybe I can venture a guess on things that have worked for me (by trial and error). And maybe you can let me know if you have tried these and experienced good results?

Success tip #5: Speak up

When I first started working – coming straight out of the very supportive university environment, it was incredibly difficult to not sit in meetings with eyes the size of saucers and stumble through answers to questions put to me. You need to get over this deer-in-the-headlights feeling very quickly and start showing people that you do indeed have a brain.

Success tip #4: Join in the fun

I find that guys are a lot more informal around each other in a business setting than women are.  It’s easy to feel excluded when you are the only woman in the room and everybody else is joking around. Don’t be afraid to join in the fun and build relationships with your colleagues.  Being well liked is always good for your career and the more comfortable you are with those around you, the more confident you will be to voice your opinions.

 

Success tip #3: Make sure you get the credit you deserve

For this one, you will have to be very assertive.  There is no point in staying up late working, being meticulous and thorough or having a great idea if the people who make the decisions don’t even know what you’ve done.  This is one that doesn’t come naturally to many women, but try to build the skill to make others aware of the good work you have done. Take pride in yourself and your abilities – there is absolutely nothing wrong with that!

         Useful tips to avoid giving credit away:

  • As soon as you have finished an important task, make an appointment to discuss your work with your boss before being asked about it at a group feedback session. Let him/ her see just how competent you are and how much effort you’ve put in.
  • When reporting back on work you did, don’t unnecessarily mention that others helped you unless they made a very significant contribution.
  • If you have a great idea, take it to your boss directly and don’t ask someone else to mention it to him/ her.

Success tip #2: Be Inquisitive

Walking around site, there are so many things that are new and different to me. I did not grow up taking car engines apart so I simply don’t have certain critical technical knowledge that others might. So what should you do when you don’t know the difference between a tipper truck and a dump truck, or a sprocket and a pinion? Ask! Don’t just mellow in ignorance – embarrassed about what others may think.  Asking lots of questions does not make you any less smart – it just means you are willing to do what it takes to become competent at what you do.

 Success tip #1: Have Tenacity

Tenacity is probably the trait that helps the most in the field of engineering. This is a field where you as a women are going to be judged and questioned (albeit internally) every time someone meets you for the first time. You will have to prove yourself to every person individually. Tenacity, persistence, doggedness is the key to pushing through this frustrating reality.  When asserting your ideas in meetings, negotiating deals with colleagues and suppliers or managing contractors and suppliers, you will have to be like a fox terrier – relentless, undeterred, annoyingly so! This comes with confidence however and is something most women will have to work hard on to get right.  If you truly believe in what you are talking about (tip: always have your facts straight because this is the easiest way to be disregarded in an argument), you will find it much easier. Once again, I must emphasise knowing your topic very well. They may be able to intimidate you with their size and aggressiveness, but if you are adamant about your facts and have the back-up to prove it, nobody can push you around!

So all you have to do to be successful is to walk into meetings fully prepared, always go above and beyond and make sure people know it; when you know you’re right, push your case and don’t give in; be heard and don’t forget to have fun! Phew, is that all?

So to close off, I have asked some questions that hold a particular interest for me, and have presented some answers based on my own experience and understanding. I hope you out there will share some tips and hints, or stories about your experiences of success. I would love to hear them!

The Smallest Girl in the Room

30 Monday Jul 2012

Posted by in Cars and Tech, Engineer Chic!, women in engineering

≈ Leave a comment

So as you know, I am a femal mechanical engineer. Most people think this is pretty cool, and I definitely do, but it sometimes gets really annoying having to constantly prove your right to be in the room…

Now please dont think I’m just a whiney, neo-feminist, poor-me woman in the workplace. To be honest, most of the men and women I work with are just great! My team mates respect me and my superiors have put a lot of trust in me and my capabilities. But every now and then, you get one loser who insists on perpertuating the stereotype and takes us back 20 years…

Luckily, this is more and more becoming the exception, not the rule.

So whats got my panties in a twist, you may ask? Last week for instance, after an hour long meeting where a supplier (salesman, not Engineer!) painstakingly explained to a bunch of engineers some basic physics principle which showed that the equipment he was supplying wasn’t going to do what we needed it tpo under our present operating conditions. This concept was obviously one which gave him some trouble when he first tried to understand it, because he explained it about 3 times.

This was okay, but at the end of the meeting, he shook my hand to say goodbye and added in one last statement, “Rhea, I really hope you understand this. I will await your revised documents.”

I really hope you understand this??? Funny how he didn’t say this to any of the (male) design engineers in the room…only the one Client who was responsible for awarding his contract!  (Thats me by the way 🙂 ). So I was like wtf dude? But had the good sense not to say what I was thinking at the time. I just shot the mechanical design engineer a look, which was returned, equally surprised at the nerve of this guy. Well anyway, it looks as if I’ll just have to cut the dude’s order in half…(what? he himself admitted the equipment wasnt going to work that ell anyway!)

Then today, I’m talking to my petrol attendant (yes in South Africa we have people who fill our gas for us),

Me:  Please don’t over-fill my tank. Just fill until the 1st automatic tank…,

Petrol guy: Most people try and fill the tank to the brim, why do you want me to stop before its full?

EC: Its actually quite bad for your car

Petrol Guy: How I can be so sure?

EC: I’m a mechanical engineer. I know these things.

Petrol guy: So have you read it in a book or can you actually fix a real car?

EC: Huh? Dude, I can open that hood and tell you what every single component is.

Petrol guy: Sorry, I didn’t mean to undermine you, just wanted to know if you know how to fix a car…

EC: Here, take this cash. I’m in a hurry.

Wow…that one really sucked. Being undermined by the guy that fills your tank! I’d love to give some philosophical advice to all the young women in the world who aspire to be/ engineers. I’d love to tell them exactly how to react to a situation like that. But to be honest, I don’t know. Its just something we’ve gotta deal with as feisty females in this industry. I don’t think its going to change anytime soon, so all you can do really is brush it off, smile your gorgeous smile, and when you get home, crack open a bottle of red, put on some Oasis and be comforted in the knowledge that you really are that good at what you do.

If you’re interested in why you shouldn’t overfill your tank, check this out: http://overfillfueltank.blogspot.com/

And one last thing (that I wish I’d said): No, I don’t know how to fix a car! I’m an Engineer, NOT a mechanic! Ha!