ncwie 2010 – expanding horizons
This year, the University of Ottawa had the honour of hosting the National Conference on Women in Engineering (NCWIE) with the help of the Canadian Federation of Engineering Students (CFES). Student delegates from universities all over Canada poured into the city and checked into the Holiday Inn & Suites Downtown for one of the most memorable weekends they will ever experience in their academic years. These lucky students were about to get acquainted and receive the benefit of years of experience from some of the most high profile and successful women engineers from industry, the public sector, and academia. To what end? This year’s theme, Expanding Horizons, encapsulated the purpose of NCWIE and ignited the imaginations of a hundred young men and women in engineering who congregated here in Ottawa and heard the inspirational accounts of professional women who found their own paths and expanded their horizons in the field of engineering
what is ncwie?
If you’ve never attended, you may find yourself wondering what the purpose of a conference such as NCWIE is? NCWIE began in 1990 at Queen’s University thanks to their engineering society, and in 2003 became the national conference as we know it now. NCWIE was started so that female students could understand the issues faced in the past and issues they could find themselves facing in the future, from anything regarding negative stereotypes, to working in a male-dominated field, to encouraging more women to become engineers. Now, the conference celebrates the accomplishments and achievements of women in engineering by offering speaker sessions and workshops. Topics include how to improve current conditions, and understanding and developing strategies for the future workforce. NCWIE also provides social events and networking opportunities to enhance the experience of those attending.
what horizons are left to expand?
Now you may be thinking, “That’s great! But, is a conference like NCWIE really necessary? I’m a female student in engineering and I’m wondering what horizons are left to expand?”
First off, thank you for having that thought! There are so many avenues left to explore and issues to be addressed pertaining to women in the field of engineering; some of which were discussed at NCWIE 2010, including: the perception of engineering, the enrolment of female students in engineering disciplines, the career opportunities for women in engineering, the roles of engineers in public policy, and so many more! Long gone are the days when a woman in engineering was considered unusual. We now find ourselves with the paths forged and cleared. It is now our turn take advantage of the work that’s been done for us and to help women in engineering touch all aspects that might be interesting to them, reach out to others in the discipline, and essentially expand our horizons; for ourselves, and for the next generation of women in engineering.
engineering simply not perceived favourably
One particular thing to keep in mind is that we are all currently benefitting from women friendly environments (ie. the workplace, post-secondary institutions) that didn’t necessarily exist as they do now 60 years ago. Today, student enrolments in universities are tipped slightly toward the female majority and yet the enrolment of female students in engineering is still disproportionately low. We are all told since kindergarten that we can be anything we want. So why do so little female students gloss over engineering when it offers so much? A speaker at NCWIE, Jana Levison, PhD and EIT (Engineer-In-Training), Acting Executive Director at OCEPP (Ontario Centre for Engineering and Public Policy) asked these questions during her speaker session Expanding Horizons Through Civic Engagement. Dr. Levison consulted the Engineers Canada website and found that enrolment of female students into engineering disciplines has not increased at the rate that was originally hoped for and that fewer women who study engineering go on to do graduate studies (compared to their male peers) and very few women who earned a B.Eng or B.A.Sc. get their P.Eng designations. Dr. Levison attempts to explain these trends by examining how engineering is perceived.
how engineering is perceived by female high school students
At the high school level, she theorizes that engineers are in the public eye enough for the discipline to gain popularity on its own; “You don’t make an appointment every year with an engineer the way you would with your family physician.” For many university applicants, engineering isn’t even on their radar. Perhaps if engineering were more consistently in the minds and in the public view would high school girls really start to see engineering as a viable, engaging, rewarding, and challenging career path. Perhaps then we would finally see a significant increase in university applications to engineering disciplines on behalf of female students. And, if engineering were perceived better and more female students were to apply to these programs and accept, we might soon see a levelling out of the gap in enrolment between male and female students.
How else can we improve the perception of engineering? Dr. Levison presents a second point that is related to the first; with less general attention from the public comes less general knowledge. The engineering field is very large and is split into many disciplines, and those, split into many more specializations. How can one really capture the imagination and spark a lifelong passion for learning within female students who might be considering engineering when even the information about the engineering disciplines on the websites of engineering faculties and departments sound so very incomplete; vague even, and sometimes downright boring! What is there to get excited about? You only need to visit a few university websites (even ours) to see what I’m talking about. There is a definitive lack of concrete examples about the applications that are possible through studying engineering. One might see something like “Health Systems” listed (in the case of software engineering), but that’s it. How can one really even begin to grasp the many venues and opportunities that exist in such a general statement? How can one imagine that through their studies, they might develop an iPad app to help doctors with their tasks and get featured in the Ottawa Citizen (such as was the case recently for three Carleton University grads) when there are no more details than that? How can someone who is researching programs and sitting on the fence about engineering decide to commit if there is such a lack of complete and inspiring information from the very institutions that offer the programs of study? Of course, there are still female students in engineering but don’t you think there could be more if some things about perception were changed? I think it is clear that universities should take the lead on the issue of female student enrolment, and I believe, just as Dr. Levison expressed, that the first issue to be tackled is that of the perception of the discipline.
how engineering is perceived by female university students
Dr. Levison also pointed out that the enrolment of female students in engineering graduate studies is even lower than what it is at the undergraduate level (compared to male students). One might wonder, what might graduate studies in engineering offer? Especially since engineering undergrads are very well prepared to enter the workforce and for the most part can start with very satisfying salaries. Indeed, I ask you what is there to be gained? More? More of what? Again, this is probably an issue related to perception and lack of information which in turn can lead to plain disinterest in pursuing postgraduate degrees. At least NCWIE featured some speakers from academia, and so for those delegates who attended the talks the subject is somewhat less ambiguous, but for the rest of us, what should we expect? Yes, there are information fairs specifically on grad studies but I’m left wondering…is that it?
On the subject of professional engineers, you may have guessed it by now, but again, less female engineering students get their P.Eng licences…again I ask you why? Some find that it’s not necessary for their careers, and some leave the engineering disciplines entirely, and some do get it eventually. Whatever the reason, it is clear that it’s a shame that there aren’t more women in engineering who become officially licensed. This trend only compounds the perception problem.
lucky girl: stop undermining yourself!
When asked how they got into engineering, or how they landed a job – which led to their career, or how they happened to benefit from some opportunity, a lot of the female speakers said something to the effect of “Oh, I was lucky and I happened to talk to someone/do something/read something, etc”. This turn of phrase actually got a bit annoying after a while and I wonder if anyone else noticed the trend and felt the way I do?
I felt frustrated when some of the speakers would use this phrase because I felt they were undermining their personal achievements. What is luck? Luck has nothing to do with skill! In contrast, how can engineering have anything else to do but with your skill? It’s why you as students must read and study and be tested on our knowledge and skills; it’s to be sure we won’t screw things up when the opportunity to do something big, something significant, something important comes along. Being lucky is winning a draw; it’s something that requires zero skill and just might happen to you based on random probability. Now being offered an opportunity to interview for you dream job, or a high-profile career, or research, that is not luck and it’s not being at the right place at the right time!
What these women were describing, and kept chalking-up to being lucky, was actually the fruits of their labour. They had prepared themselves with their studies, work experience, and community involvement to be able to accept these opportunities once they presented themselves. That is not luck; that is preparation and diligence and should be expected of any competent engineer. It’s their jobs to do all those things, but for whatever reason, maybe modesty, was explained away as luck.
I would like to ask you the reader, to make the effort to prepare yourself for future opportunities such as these and when they come and you are talking about them please don’t explain away your 4 years minimum of study as luck. You’ve invested in yourself, and these women in themselves, and I think that you are entitled to recognize your own efforts that brought you to those points. When opportunity comes, it might be a surprise opportunity that comes unexpectedly, it might be something that you’ve been planning for and applying for, it might be something else, just remember that the reason you’ll be able to accept those opportunities is because you were prepared. You didn’t just get lucky; you guaranteed yourself that you’d be prepared.
I think that makes a difference to say one was lucky versus one was prepared. I think saying you were lucky really undermines your achievements and preparation. I think if you are an engineering student you should probably get it into your head to avoid explaining your actions or accomplishments with luck and to embrace your hard work and preparation no matter how modest you may normally be!
now what?
The situation is evident; growth of the number of enrolment of female students has never been that good and is now dipping slightly. Now, one’s gender certainly doesn’t make one a better student or engineer, and I don’t believe that we should have more women in engineering for the sake of having more women in engineering. What I believe is that it’s a shame to have so many young, intelligent, and capable women, not even consider engineering for themselves, either because it’s not talked about enough or because the perception is not that great. Hopefully, the delegates at NCWIE will return to their institutions with a renewed sense of awareness of the situation for female student in engineering and will explore more horizons on how to make the discipline more appealing to high school students, and will explore the graduate studies options, and will register as EITs to eventually get their P.Eng licenses.
get motivated!
NCWIE is great conference to attend for both male and female students and I highly recommend that you participate next time. I encourage you all to help change the perceptions of engineering and help encourage young women to enrol in the programs. NCWIE is an effective eye-opener and vehicle for discussion on many topics. Here I focused on perceptions but there are many more horizons left to expand!