Introducing Girls To Engineering (And The Fact That They Have A Right To Any Career They Choose)

Girls represent more than half the future workforce, but when it comes to engineering, few get enough guidance and encouragement to consider a career in this critical field. Aiming to challenge that stubborn reality, the National Engineers Week Committee is redoubling efforts in 2002 to let girls of all ages know that engineering not only wants them, it genuinely needs them.

Facing daunting statistics that indicate women represent less than ten percent of all engineers and less than 20 percent of all college engineering students in America, the committee is launching the second annual Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day, a nationwide outreach planned for Thursday, February 21 during National Engineers Week, February 17-23, 2002. By the end of the month, as many as one million girls will have received a firsthand introduction to engineering, along with a clearer idea of its importance in society.

The National Engineers Week Committee, a consortium of more than 100 engineering societies and corporations, believes that if more girls are intrigued with the possibilities that engineering and engineering careers offer, then more will take the necessary educational steps to pursue engineering after high school. That could well help alleviate a possible shortage of engineers in America that some experts predict will hinder the country's potential for technological advances in the future.

"Women think differently than men, and we need one hundred percent of our brainpower 'cranking' on today's problems, says Deborah L. Grubbe, Corporate Director - Safety and Health for DuPont, co-chair of National Engineers Week 2002. "Twenty years ago I received a poster that read, 'When I grow up, I want to become an engineer just like my Mom.' We'll have been successful with 'Girl Day' when we start hearing comments like that!"

Too often, however, young women interested in engineering lack enough math courses to go into engineering upon entering college. For the engineering community, giving girls the option of becoming engineers is akin to fighting an often unrecognized bias. Most parents, for example, reject the notion that their daughters don't have the right to become an engineer or doctor, architect, programmer, accountant or medical technician, but few realize it usually takes three years of math in high school to enter into any of those fields of study in college. Without the educational background, the right to enter those fields is effectively denied.

Not only do many girls lack encouragement to pursue math and science, some parents and other influential adults unwittingly discourage girls with such remarks as "I never could do math" or "I always hated math when I was a child." Girls good in math may also worry about stereotypes that portray them as oddballs. One of the top ten reasons there aren't more women engineers, aeronautical engineer and former Secretary of the Air Force Sheila Widnall once remarked, is because of concern "that they won't get a date to the prom if they get the highest math score." Finally, while boys who are good in math are commonly steered toward careers in engineering, science or technology, girls who excel in math are often advised to become teachers -- a worthy career option, to be sure, but only one of many. 

To counter that, last year's Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day mobilized 90 organizations nationwide that sponsored engineers who visited classrooms, went to girls clubs, hosted activities in malls and other projects. This year, the goal is to have 10,000 women engineers across the country -- joined by thousands of their male counterparts -- spread a positive message about math and science education and engineering careers.

Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day is led by National Engineers Week 2002 co-chairs DuPont and ASCE, along with the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Education Foundation, IBM's Women in Technology, Agilent Technologies, Inc., Compaq Computer Corporation, the National Society of Professional Engineers, Society of Women Engineers, Women in Engineering Programs & Advocates Network, MentorNet, Girl Scouts USA, and the National Academy of Engineering's Celebration of Women in Engineering. It is supported by contributions from Agilent, Compaq, Elizabeth and Stephen Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Education Foundation.

The project includes efforts by volunteers from business, government, universities, youth groups and professional engineering societies working in a wide variety of venues. Here's a sampling of activities, big and small, planned for the day:

• IBM, which calculates that it reached 96,000 girls in the program last year, will provide hundreds of engineers and others from its Women in Technology program in its outreach effort at several sites across the country.

• In Boise, Idaho, 50 engineers from Micron Technology, including 30 women, will use hands-on electrical engineering demonstrations in classrooms that will reach more than 100 girls. The engineers will also offer email mentoring sessions to the girls. 

• DuPont will sponsor a number of activities in the program, including a focus on Girl Scouts and middle school students in Wilmington, Delaware with an emphasis on activities of DuPont engineers.

• Tufts University's School of Engineering, Women in Engineering Programs & Advocates Network, and the Society of Women Engineers will unveil a new Web site on February 21, "Women in Engineering Organization" at www.wieo.org. Sponsored by the GE Fund, the site will be a directory and resource of engineering programs specifically for girls, college level women, parents, K-12 teachers, guidance counselors, college faculty, industry, and project directors on a local and national level. For questions and comments contact Meghan McInnis at meghan.mcinnis@tufts.edu.

• In Lancaster, Pennsylvania, five engineers, including two women, from RETTEW Associates will work with Girl Scouts to explain how engineering affects society and the role of engineering in the future.

• Agilent Technologies will coordinate a company-wide program with approximately 250 volunteers helping 1,000 girls primarily in California, Colorado, Delaware, and Washington.

• An engineering firm in Rutherford, New Jersey, Goodkind & O'Dea, will invite ten girls to their offices to "work" as engineers for the day.

• The New York State Department of Transportation in Poughkeepsie and the New York State Association of Transportation Engineers will conduct outreach to 2,000 girls in local schools, including "ZOOM into Engineering" activities, another educational outreach program for National Engineers Week 2002 in conjunction with ZOOM, the daily PBS television series and Web site produced by WGBH Boston.

• California State University at Fresno will host 100 girls in workshops and lab activities led by women engineering students. A separate "Engineers at the Mall" exhibit will feature interactive displays and student projects. 

• Engineers from the KIRBY Company of Cleveland, Ohio will sponsor hands-on demonstrations, games and discussions with 40 girls in grades 6-8.

• The Boeing Company in Wichita, Kansas will host an Engineering Expo to offer a review of various kinds of engineering to grade school students.

• Members of the National Society of Black Engineers will work with girls from St. Benedict's Preparatory School in Newark, New Jersey.

Interested members of the public can receive an updated "Introduce a Girl to Engineering" booklet, which includes a backgrounder on Girls, Women and the Engineering Profession, information on working with girls, reprints, and other educational material by calling 412-741-1393, or visiting the "Product Catalog" section of the National Engineers Week web site at www.eweek.org

National Engineers Week Foundation
1420 King Street   Alexandria, VA 22314
tel. 703.684.2852   email: eweek@nspe.org