Winnie Lai never really had any doubts about what she would study after high school. “I love to take things apart. I like science and math. I knew early on that I wanted to study engineering.”
A top physics student, Ms. Lai said that her high school physics teacher, who was also an engineer, nudged her dream along, providing support and encouragement. “I spent a lot of time talking with her and she prepared me, helped me understand what to expect at university.”
The two kept in touch while Ms. Lai pursued her undergraduate degree in engineering physics at the University of British Columbia. And when she graduated last spring, it was that same high school teacher who presented her with her iron ring. “It’s custom that the ring is presented by a fellow engineer, so that was quite special.”
Ms. Lai was fortunate to find a female mentor to guide her through her science and engineering studies. In what’s still largely a male-dominated field, such role models are hard to find.
In fact, the number of women getting into engineering in Canada has been on the decline, despite a decade of efforts to encourage more girls to think of technical careers. Even though women currently make up more than half of the undergraduate populations across Canada, the number of women enrolled in engineering programs dropped from a high of 21 per cent in 2001 to 17 per cent in 2009. The portion of licensed engineers in Canada who are women has grown from 7 per cent in 2000, but the figure still sits at only 10 per cent, according to Ottawa-based Engineers Canada.
Why don’t more young women take an interest in science and engineering? It’s certainly not for lack of efforts at motivation. In the past five years, industry and academics alike have introduced myriad initiatives designed to attract more women to the field.
Tyseer Aboulnasr, dean of the faculty of applied science and a professor of electrical engineering at the University of British Columbia, said the decline rests squarely on the shoulders of engineers themselves.
“Collectively, we have focused too much on the technology side, on building things,” Dr.
That is reflected by the fact that women are a significant presence in certain engineering disciplines (biosystems, environmental, chemical), in which they can clearly see how their work makes a difference.
Valerie Davidson, an engineering professor at the University of Guelph who is also the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council/RIM
Ms. Lai agrees that misconceptions about engineering abound. When she first embarked on her engineering degree, she recalled, even her friends thought it was “dirty work, something that a tradesperson would do.”
A 2009 Engineers Canada survey of young women in high school found that many had negative perceptions of engineering and technology occupations. According to the report: “Most equate engineering and technology (but especially engineering) with construction work, outdoor work, working in a cubicle, and relating primarily to computers and machines, rather than people.”
The result is that women attribute lower status to engineering and technology occupations compared with, for example, health and social sciences.
That’s not surprising, Dr.
The study also pointed to another deterrent: discomfort with a male-dominated environment and the consequent need to adapt.
