International Women In Engineering Day

[Ingenieur]

June 23rd was International Women In Engineering Day, celebrating the achievements of women in the traditionally male-dominted engineering industry.

Who knew that wearing a floppy hat was all it took?

I likewise bear the scars from my career in this space.

If a chap wants to wear a dress and a hat, have at it, I don't care. If he/they make sexual choices with consenting adults I truly couldn't be less interested.

However, if it were to get to the point where a chap wants to win, or wins, a Women in Engineering award I would be spitting feathers.

This doesn't seem to be the case here (yet) but men in women's sports, for example, have made me pre-emptively defensive.

How wonderful that a physics course is now 25% women! Great progress over the last 30 years - onwards!

Exactly. The hat wearer has literally had zero barriers to entry. And the women who have opted into this subject have already proved their gender non conforming credentials many times over. I wonder if the hat wearer is being paid 20% less than male colleagues like the women will be? To get the full female engineer experience the hat person needs to offer to take a 20% pay cut. If they haven’t done that then I feel like they’re just play acting and not committed enough…

Can you imagine if I turned up (as a white woman” to a BLM meeting and got my white face front and centre of a photo? I would be roundly criticised and quite rightly called out! Why is this behaviour acceptable if it’s males at a female event?

It's rather galling that the sponsors' say '... we are proud to have so many talented female engineers helping us solve complex issues to ensure a safer future for all.'

and '...who have championed diversity throughout their careers was both inspiring and motivating' what the hell has any of that to do with engineering.

Obviously the only hat that should be worn indoors in a professional engineering setting is a hard hat.

This is all really quite infuriating. I do hope None Binary Bloke isn’t there to ‘expand the bandwidth of being a woman engineer’ .

God, the amount of sexism I faced as a female fresh graduate going into engineering in the 1980s.

I would add that the sexism was mostly from the middle managers. The trades guys were usually supportive and respectful (at least to my face).

@SabrinaThwaite yes I think that tracks with my experience in a construction engineering space, too. At worst it was a sort of paternalism from the older trades guys that might have seemed patronising but in hindsight wasn't much different to how they treated the guys.

I always found everyone fine - apart from one old boy who shouted and a crane driver who I think purposefully dropped a tiny amount of concrete on my hard hat to give me a fright! So I’d say that the biggest battle was probably in my own mind all the way up to age 30-35. Doing something different requires extra determination doesn’t it? But I was usually made to feel welcome esp as worked harder than the chaps usually. There were always small signs that I was “the other” though - not invited on holiday with a group of colleagues was the biggest thing. But small in the grand scheme of things. The initial 20% pay discrepancy was a surprise when I discovered accidentally and that got resolved - although I suspect it crept back in after my original boss retired.

But after age 30-35 / motherhood the game changed and I had no idea how much more hostile the environment slowly shifted to be. Older women with authority - especially if they are part time and have a younger, and less well known boss - are perceived to be very threatening it seems!? Obviously places at the top of a private firm are going to be competitive but it really gets into boys’ club territory at that point. Who looks the part based on an old template becomes important and then the need to find large sums of cash to buy equity. Much more tricky territory all around for a part time woman. So glad I now work for myself - so liberating and fun again! (And even better - more lucrative).

So that’s why this INWED hat person has me fucking incensed! There is zero justification for them being at this event - they should get their own trans one and celebrate that instead of gate crashing the women’s. Especially if as OP says they are NB and not even committed to womanhood. Grr

@KnottyAuty But I was usually made to feel welcome esp as worked harder than the chaps usually

Yep - having to work harder to prove that you could do the job AND getting paid less than the men.

I shifted into a related area, went on mat leave and came back (part time) to find that the role had been moved 200 miles away and I had been given a completely different job. Was so glad that not long after DH’s company moved us overseas for a while as it was the perfect excuse to leave.

I’ve ended up doing something entirely different, not at all lucrative (DH was always the big earner) but really interesting and challenging.

Data from the Engineering Council suggest women are leaving the profession by their mid 40s, through lack of support, gender bias, struggle with work / life balance etc. Although I doubt any of those issues will affect Floppy Hat.

Sorry to hear that. Frustratingly familiar story! As my friend once said of this "you can't get new growth from old wood". The more women who come through and start their own firms the better. That's why I am rather cynical about these events for INWED etc because there are rarely any attendees under 35 and the speakers are usually chosen for their bubbly appeal to the young, rather than the genuine role models who have done stuff, who may have opinions and tougher things to say. Ho hum!