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Michael Coslo wrote:
K4YZ wrote: The following is from the ARRL website...I brought over the first paragraphs as a starting point. The remainder may be read in it's entirety at www.arrl.org. My question: Is this even an issue? Kind of. There is a wide gender gap between men and women in the engineering fields. Yep. Scientific fields too. Whole bunch of reasons for it. But working in the field, they account for 9 percent of all U.S. engineers Ya gotta question a raw stat with no background. What, exactly, do the consider a "U. S. engineer"? Somebody with an engineering degree? Somebody with an engineering license? Somebody with "engineer" or "engineering" in the title? Somebody who describes their job that way? Or some other criteria? There is a quote that shows up at several sites: "Women still face gender-specific obstacles when studying and preparing for careers in engineering and other sciences. There is solid evidence that mentoring can help address this disparity" said Muller" http://tinyurl.com/5lm92 Despite the prevalence of the quote, I'm not sure what the disparities are. Goes back to long before engineering school. When there's a choice, more boys than girls take math and physics. The disparity isn't as bad as it used to be, but it's still there. That's just one reason - there are lots more. Or they can force 'em to go to "tech camp" http://tinyurl.com/5m82m Do they not want to go? Interestingly enough, there are High schools that place emphasis on science and math. The enrollment in these schools is roughly equal, gender wise. But the female students tend to gravitate to liberal arts, medicine and law. see http://tinyurl.com/3umlf Is that a problem? It seems to me that the goal is equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome. Finally, I'm not sure what to think. I've discussed the issue with a woman engineer I work with. Interestingly enough, she says she KNEW she wanted to be an engineer from the time she was a kid. No forcing to go to camps. She thinks the recruitment efforts are not going to work, because one does not pick engineering like one may pick a major from a school catalog. I know several female engineers. Their reasons for choosing it vary all over the place. Some, like your friend, wouldn't dream of doing anything else. Others had it suggested to them, liked the idea, and went with it. Some had to overcome discrimination, others never noticed any difference. Oh, and she says she hates being called a "Woman Engineer". "Engineer" by itself will do just fine thank you! Exactly. A sample of one, of course, but perhaps a little telling. Maybe people who are interested in engineering get tin to it for that reason, and people who are not into engineering do other things. Some other reasons: - Someone who goes into engineering will have an educational and professional life surrounded by guys and all their characteristics, good and bad. Some women have no problem with that, others would prefer a more gender-balanced situation. - Because technology changes so fast, temporarily dropping out of active employment in many fields in order to raise a family will make you unemployable in that field. How many jobs are there for computer folks whose skills and knowledge are 5 years behind? The usual solution for fields like health care is to work part time. But their aren't many part-time engineering jobs. - Like it or not, there *are* some gender-related differences. They may be all due to cultural forces (quite likely), or all due to genetics (extremely unlikely), or some mix, but the differences are there. And they're not going to go away overnight. As I said before - It seems to me that the goal is equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome. 73 de Jim, N2EY |
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wrote in message ups.com... [snip] - Like it or not, there *are* some gender-related differences. They may be all due to cultural forces (quite likely), or all due to genetics (extremely unlikely), or some mix, but the differences are there. And they're not going to go away overnight. Actually I happen to think there are some genetic gender differences but that they are not great. We can all do math for example but some like it and some don't. Those who don't like it have to have other reasons for pursuing it other than love of math itself. As I said before - It seems to me that the goal is equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome. That is what is truly important. There needs to be enough freedom that those who fall outside the typical band can pursue those interests. Don't force women to be engineers but create an environment such that those who are so inclined can pursue it without having to battle society. Similarly those men who wish to be nurses or secretaries or whatever should be free to pursue those goals without society looking askance at them. At the same time, those who wish to follow traditional paths should also be free to do so without extremists (such as some of the NAG and NOW members) looking down on them. 73 de Jim, N2EY Dee D. Flint, N8UZE |
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