This month Argonne National Labs will hold its annual Engineering, Science and Technology workshop for 8th grade girls (www.dep.anl.gov/p_k-12/IGED).
Now don’t stop reading if you don’t have an 8th grade girl in your family because this topic has far reaching effects.
Girls do go into science as doctors, nurses, and medical techs, but engineering is often seen as the career choice for boys.
Cosmopolitan magazine recently reported that, “Women gravitate toward careers in rewarding but low paying industries in creative fields, social work and public service… which limits their career choices,” and tuition debt limits the opportunity for grad school and additional choices.
Currently, “Americans owe more on student loans than they do on cars or credit cards and the imbalance starts the day that school ends… even when everything else is equal (women) will make 18 percent less than their male counterparts, right out of college.”
Young female engineers have salaries more on par with men and are more easily employed. So why do girls avoid engineering?
When our older daughter was looking at colleges, we tried to steer her toward engineering. No such luck.
After graduating in Political Science, she contemplated going back to school for engineering. Why the change?
She says no one really told her what engineering is. (Her father is a nuclear engineer.)
She now realizes that engineering is basically “solving complex problems and building solutions.”
Engineering can be in business or technology, at a company, government lab, hospital, etc. Yes, engineering students may work harder in school, but they frequently get more satisfying fi rst jobs.
Who is steering our girls away from engineering? Madison Avenue seems intent upon narrowing choices for girls. Check out the “heavy on pink” Legos in a search the next time you’re online.
We need female engineers to design new devices and systems for the benefi t of us all.
