females in engineering?

Question

when studying to become an engineer, how hard is it in university? whats the ratio like with females vs males? or what are the cons of being female in engineering?

Answer 1

Any engineering degree is not going to be easy. It's a different atmosphere than high school... lots more work and a lot less time.

Depending on what kind of engineering you're interested in, there are more or less females. Majors like computer and electrical engineering generally have the fewest number of females (less than 10%). I studied chemical engineering and we had about 50/50 girls to guys. The others, like civil, mechanical, aerospace lie somewhere in between.

After awhile, you get used to being the lone female in a sea of males. It's not so bad. For the most part, everyone will treat you like an equal and with respect. Once you graduate, you may find some disadvantages to being female in a male-dominated role (there will always be sexism), but I find the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. People remember me and pay attention when I talk, and as long as I remain professional, I think I get a different level of respect for working where I do.

Hope this helps! We need more female engineers out there!

Answer 2

Studying engineering is very difficult for both men and women, and it's not for someone that doesn't enjoy what they learn.

I graduated in mechanical engineering from a large university, and I would say there were about 25% females. I concur with the above posters; chemical and aerospace had the highest percentage of females, and computer and electrical had the lowest.

I never saw any discrimination or sexism toward the female students while I was in school, they mixed in pretty well with the rest of the class. On one of my senior group projects, I was the only male in a group of four females, which wasn't so bad; two of them had boyfriends (one was dating our TA at the time, but that's another drama-filled story when things went bad between them). I certainly didn't pick up any particular attention or distraction there. Honestly, I didn't notice too much until my friend pointed it out about halfway through the term.

Cons could be that people may not take you as seriously to start, that you may have to work extra hard in the beginning to prove you belong there.

Answer 3

1.)Engineering in my opinion is the hardest undegrad degree that can be earned. Level of Difficulty 1. Electrical 2. Mechanical 3. Civil (opinion)

-Electrical Engineering is highly abstract, and requires alot of analytical thinking.
-Mechanical Engineering would be ideal for the highly visual person. Motion and things of that nature.
-Civil Engineering is boring and static

2.) I would say that in my classes, roughly 5 percent of people are females.

3.) In terms of today, the numbers of women in engineering are much higher than back in the 60s. You seem to already know the major con of being a female engineer based upon the questions you are asking. The truth is its a highly male dominated field, and you will be subject to many biases and misjudgments. This doesn't mean women should not be engineers, it just follows the typical patterns of highly one sided situations. The numbers are changing though, and women are becoming more common in the field. Who knows maybe in 30 years it will be even.

Answer 4

My husband is an engineer. The ratio of female to males is dramatically increasing, though males still far outnumber the females.

Cons: working in a generally male field and all that brings (generally speaking: power trips male style, men who have difficulty dealing with a female counterpart)

Good luck!

Answer 5

life in university is definitely not easy, but as long as u hang on.. u'll soon breeze through it.. coz uni life is not only about studying gal! not much worries. i am in chemical engineering, i would say e ratio of females to males is like half. there's no such thing as cons of being female in engineering, coz at e end of e day, it's ur abilities and ur interpersonal skills tat count, not ur gender. for e same reason, there's not much pros too.

Answer 6

University isnt bad, look into organizations like Society of Women Engineers. T
he number of women varies drastically by field. Chemical,industrial and civil have higher numbers, I think mechanical is in the middle, and electrical, nuclear, are lower. What sucks is not having a good social network, and guys who are still sexist, plus getting hit on by lots of guys with low social skills. Plus the stress of always having to prove yourself and your sex. Pros are the paycheck.
If I had to do it again, Id go into genetic or biomedical engineering, plus these are hot fields with great growth potential.

Answer 7

nerdy *** engineers - unless your father was an Engineer - it will be less than inspiring - unless you can keep it cerebral ..I was Elvis who went to engineering school - but I got lots of mileage out of the degree & now I do something completely different - If you are a woman - they will fall all over you & do what ever can be done to help you pass ..scholarship etc. - Why ? because women have been declining in engineer ranks for the last 10 years .. they dont seem to like it - I always enjoyed it - buy realized early on that a nerdy *** engineer Manager would never promote the guy that took their girls in college - soooooooooo, Idid something else that makes 2X the money .. .