DD's very early introduction to the world being set up for the men.

[ellyoctober]

DD18 has just started a Civil Engineering course at university.

She's worked so hard to pursue this dream, abd I'm very proud of her but slightly concerned about the male orientated industry she's joining and what she'll encounter there.

Today she's texted me from a lab to say that she's too short to use a piece of equipment adequately and a lab assistant has had to scrat around to find her a stool so she's able to participate fully. She's 5'1".

Hopefully this will raise some awareness in the lab, but I'm not holding out hope for the future.

It's everywhere isn't it?

@FaceForRadio1973

Fair enough, I've just had a quick Google, and it would appear that there is about 5" between men and women average height. I apologise, I didn't realise how much it was.

The average male height is 5'9", and 5'4" for women.

I admit that It's easier and safer for a tall person to stoop, then a short one to tip-toe.

Unfortunately, even if the equipment was designed for the average height of 5'4", someone less than that is going to struggle.

Yes but there's a difference between being slightly uncomfortable, or not having a perfect view, to literally not being able to participate at all! e.g. I'm short. We have fleet cars in work - clearly (read invisible women) designed for the average man. Most can be adjusted to a certain degree, but one cannot. I, and a few other women, literally can't drive it safely. There aren't any men who can't drive any of the cars.

@GreyhoundG1rl - I think "tiny" is a bit of an exaggeration. It's 2 inches below average. You wouldn't refer to a 5'5 women as huge/gigantic because they are 2 inches taller than average.

I was the only woman on my course, it was actually (suprisingly) fine, this was 25yrs ago. I'm way taller than average so didn't have physical issues. But the guys on my (3yr) course were a nice bunch. The mainly male tutors were encouraging. My only poor experience was work experience on a factory shop floor - horrible resentful attitude from a couple of men, plus lots of porn displayed on the machinery, which wouldn't happen now.

This is a sex issue. 5'1 isn't tiny. Don't be ridiculous. It's taller than an average height in many countries for females and only a few inches shorter the the average UK height. Do you call women when are 5'10 giants?

There is a lot of data out there on things such as PPE being designed around men.