Colleen, the awesome leader of Engineers Without Borders Case Local Projects, recently came up with a Facebook status on yesterday’s farm trip that sums up my thoughts, exactly:
Oh man. Best farm trip ever: “Well, due to our tool shortage, we don’t have a pick-axe. What we do have, however, is Urvi with a hoe.” Local Projects, ftw!
Sun. Solar panel. Concrete-mixing. Breaking stony ground. Joy!
Girls in engineering hear it in college all the time: Boys talking about how they pulled apart their computers when they were six and then rebuilt it from scratch, without the manual, making their high-tech Box-of-Wonders faster and loaded with ten gazillion extra goodies that weren’t included in the initial buying package.
Okay, maybe that a bit of exaggeration–but if there’s something I’ve learned as one of only two girls in my technology-driven major, girls in engineering with no tinkering background are in for some amount of discomfort when they venture into the world of passionate baby-boy-engineers. After three years of taking physics laboratory courses and trying to find my way into Tinker World, I’ve learned two things:
I’m not saying that MAKE and CRAFT aren’t terrific magazines (because they are). I am also not saying that men in engineering are consciously inconsiderate of women in engineering; however, that doesn’t change the fact that the other girl Engineering Physics major and I are often found lamenting our look-but-don’t-touch status in our various laboratory groups.
This really is a comment on why you don’t see baby-girl-engineers even in today’s tech-driven world. It’s because their mothers never tinkered. You know it’s a problem when experienced college girls seek lab partners who have never touched an oscilloscope and when they are grateful when their partners don’t show up to Saturday crunch-time in the circuits lab.
Even if girls-who-didn’t-tinker manage to miraculously get their hands on the circuit or the power drill, girls hardly feel fulfilled afterward or feel as if they’ve learned as much as their male counterparts. Typical universities don’t teach tinkering and they seldom have the resources to encourage individualized experiential learning that leads to breakage of precious electronic equipment. This means that college girls can get away with packing their resumes math-rich college courses and even college laboratory experiences–while at the same time filling up their insecurity meter on dealing with technology. Suffice to say that it will be a problem when they get a job in the male-dominated field.
The solution to all of this is an easily-stated fact: Build something, break stuff, get your hands dirty, just start, etc. In reality, this is more difficult than it sounds for busy college girls.
Time is one critical problem. I’ve seen more girl engineers hop to join girl-engineering-power sororities and other social groups rather than spending their valuable time joining meaningful hands-on engineering student clubs like Engineers Without Borders. While social support for girls in engineering is important, it’s more important for girl engineers to get comfortable dealing with males on real engineering projects and gaining confidence independently outside the bonds formed by sympathetic females.
Imagine my surprise when I sent an e-mail to some 30+ Phi Sigma Rho sisters (who are all engineers), encouraging them to go to a Case’s Rising Engineers and Technological Entrepreneurs meeting, which offers fantastic projects opportunities at CWRU–and none of them showed up!
Girls: Don’t DO This. Make hands-on learning your first priority, and Society of Women Engineers (SWE) the second. You would think that organizations like SWE and Phi Sigma Rho would naturally offer plenty girl-powered projects, but I’ve joined all of these women-orientated engineering clubs–and they don’t. Understand that these are social groups meant to provide girls in engineers with leadership experience and networks.
Money is another problem. Girls have been taught to be good. Good girls don’t smash their technology with a hammer. Good girls are cautious. Good girls save money. Good girls certainly don’t spend money on technology for the sole purpose of smashing it to bits. Screw that. From now on, Lady Ada is your hero and Goddess. What comes from her mouth is doctrine. Believe me.
The initial shock of breaking things you’ve bought with your hard-earned money will slowly erode away; you only have to leap and trust the that the process of breaking with lead the way. Girl engineers avoid breakage like the plague, while boys seem to view breakage as a part of the process to learn. Girls: take their example, throw caution to the wind, and break things. (Or otherwise try to fix something that is already broken, to start. Doing that will eventually lead you to break stuff on your own.)
With some caution, some Googling for help when things go awry, and some girl-savvy independence outside the sisterhood, busy college girls can also become tinkerers and start rebuilding their sense of self-worth and -confidence in this male-dominated field.
