Girona’s female engineers constantly experience more professional difficulties for being women

2023-06-21 15:58:54

Four out of ten female engineers in the demarcation of Girona claim to have suffered professional difficulties for the simple fact of being a woman. This is confirmed by a study carried out by the College of Graduate Engineers and Technical Industrial Engineers of Girona (EnginyersGi) on the occasion of the International Day of Women Engineers. From the college they are asking to create benchmarks in order to encourage the presence of women in engineering studies. Remember that these jobs often involve high positions and high salaries, which would help narrow the wage gap. The school ensures that only 8.4% of collegiates today are womenbut among pre-collegiate students there are already 21.87% of people who are women.

The survey of all college and pre-collegiate women points out that female engineers vit was vital to increase their visibility in order to become benchmarks and destroy some of the prejudices that exist in the profession. One of the respondents assures that actions are needed to encourage girls to study technical careers but also “it is necessary to explain to boys that girls have the same abilities and rights to access certain professions”.

In this sense, lA study by EnginyersGi points out that the new generations will play a key role in equality between the sexes. That’s why they ask that schools and institutes explain the job opportunities that the world of engineering has because many times it is not known enough. In addition, they believe that it is necessary to explain that “you don’t have to be a genius to be an engineer, you simply have to like solving problems”, as detailed by one respondent.

The fact that engineering being a very masculinized sector implies that four out of ten female engineers have suffered discrimination and difficulties at work due to being women. In this sense, some respondents say that women are defined as “beautiful”, while men are “machines” and “clever”.

Prove more than men

This makes women feel obliged to prove more than men that they are qualified for the job. In addition, they claim that when the superior is a man, it is more difficult for them to have confidence to undertake important projects.

In the question about what are the strengths of female engineersthe women surveyed have mostly answered that they stand out for perseverance and constancy, the fact of being multitasking or responsibility.

Some of the impediments that female engineers encounter on a day-to-day basis are structural problems that go beyond their profession. Women believe that family reconciliation is one of the reasons why there are fewer women in this professional sector. The respondents believe that there are many women who choose to take less demanding jobs that allow them to devote more time to the family, even though this is at the expense of a lower position and therefore a lower salary.