I am on my last year of college, studying to be an engineer. When my daughter was younger she used to say that she wanted to be an engineer and work in one of my labs. She wanted to be an engineer mom, with kids. Now My daughter wants to be a teacher and a mom when she grows up. She wants to have two or three kids. And you know what? I think that is perfect for her.
Today we are going to be exploring if we should encourage our daughters to go into engineering. It is after all a very lucrative field. You can have the potential to get paid very big bucks and depending on the specific type of engineer you seek out to be you can rise into management roles within your first five years working. There are not many fields you can go into on a four or five year bs degree and come bout making $60-$100 thousand. So your return on investment is pretty good. So, why wouldn’t we want our children to go into such a field.
It’s not uncommon around my campus to find second, third, and even fourth generation future engineers among the students. For some families it’s a tradition. Your great grandfather was an engineer, you grandfather, your dad, and now you. This is mostly among the men, because even in 2019 women in engineering are still a minority. Typically with the girls maybe their dad was an engineer, but that’s about it. Most women in engineering are a first generation, like myself. I don’t know how it will be in the next 15 or 20 years when my daughter reaches college age but right now it’s still a predominantly male field.
With this being said, I have experienced first hand how many of the things in engineering are made for men. I am a very small woman, and the majority of men are significantly bigger than me. There have been cases where I had to use two hands for even a simple pair of tongs that were too large for my hands. There are many pieces of equipment too heavy more me to lift, maneuver, turn, etc. It’s a man’s world.
One of the first things you learn as you enter engineering school is safety. You learn hour to treat cuts big and small, what to do in the case of acid, fire, and radiation burns. How to restart a heart, or deal with a limb being torn off. What to do when you find someone unconscious, or on fire. When you are going through these training you are also shown how to avoid these things. I remember thinking, yeah this is just a precaution, I’ll never need any of this. I’ll be able to avoid all of these things. Over the next few years I realized this is not the case. You are taught these things not just as a way for the university and engineers as a whole to cover themselves, but because you will actually need them. It’s a dangerous field, and I don’t think anyone has walked through it unscathed. Even with our best precaution I have still sliced my hand open, been burnt and I’ve experienced radiation burns. I’ve seen people caught on fire. I’ve witnessed chemicals burn right through plastic. While every job has it’s hazards, it is important to take stock of the potentials before embarking on the journey.
So, should we encourage our daughters to go into engineering fields when they will be a minority, where they have to deal with hazardous materials and situations every day? I would say only if they have a strong desire to be an engineer. If it is not their interest, I wouldn’t force my daughter into it just because I’m an engineer, as a “family tradition”. Or just because of the return on investment or good salary.
I have to say that I support my daughter in whatever field of work she wants to pursue, but I wouldn’t push her into following my life choices. Because I know the physical and mental sacrifice it takes to be an engineer.
What about you girl Mama’s out there? What would you encourage your daughters to do?
Thinking of the future,
Brie
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