08-16-2017, 09:16 PM
controversial issue in electrical engineering
sexism in engineering
Turbomachine is a pain in my rear end. I'm a senior mechanical engineering student at Tennessee Tech. Turbomachine is a course taught by a great professor who has his good and bad days, but today is one of those bad days. Who thinks it is funny to have five large projects due in one week. And when I say projects, don't think a posterboard with some pictures of your new apartment talking about selling real estate. Think 50 page papers over micro-hydro turbines discussing velocity diagrams and the advantages of the Pelton turbine over the Turgo and Francis turbines. Along with a fifteen minute presentation over the topic. In addition to Senior design which has to be 1)built 2)presented 3)written about. In addition to an essay on Hamlet (because I procrastinated and took Western Lit my last possible chance instead of freshman year). So..this should be a lovely week.
Why do professors do that? Why do all professors have stuff due at the last possible day? Why not have it due halfway through or allow it to be your final or something like that. Why in the world did I decide to major in Mechanical Engineering?
So..the controversial question is where are women in engineering? Let me just say that I have had numerous classes where I was the only female. And the most women I have ever had in any one engineering class with me was 2. And that was a big class. Is it because we don't promote engineering in high school as an option for women? Are women told they shouldn't be engineers because they will be working with machines and getting dirty? Or is it the same reason my brother was invited to work on the car with my dad and not me?
And by the way, if you do happen to know a female engineer, they are most likely an Industrial Engineer which is part manager, part engineer. It's like a page link between non-mechanical people and mechanical people but without the down and dirty stuff Mechanical and Electrical Engineers get to learn. Industrial engineers discuss ergonomics, rarely design, and are almost never getting a chance to run a CNC mill or do welding.
I think there's still quite a bit of sexism in engineering. I don't care how much progress we have made in medical schools and college in general on evening out the male to female ratio. This right here is discrimination against women. It sucks. If you are a father of a little girl, try giving her tinker toys instead of dolls. Try giving her legos instead of make-up as a little girl. To encourage your children to be engineers, encourage them to take things apart and put them back together. Encourage them to design..not dresses, but mechanical things. Anything from a stove to a bike ramp and everything in between.