Need more women to study engineering

Those seeking challenging careers fill medical schools, law classes

Last summer, a surge of young women took social media by storm by tweeting photos of themselves with a hashtag that brought strong reactions: #ILookLikeAnEngineer.

As many in the Twittersphere registered their misgivings that these women represented a field that has long been associated with geeky guys, the campaign went viral, with women across the engineering spectrum proudly showing the world a new generation of engineers.

And while it was a great, feelgood moment for female engineers, the fact remains that engineering schools are still struggling to attract women to their ranks.

At this time of year, as Quebecers remember the atrocity of the Dec. 6, 1989 massacre at Polytechnique Montréal — in which gunman Marc Lépine targeted women engineers during his violent rampage — it seems particularly disconcerting that the field is still so devoid of women.

Women make up more than half of the Canadian population but are significantly under-represented in the engineering profession; less than 12 per cent of practising

It’s all about making a better world. Doctors do it through biology, but engineers do it through technology.

licensed engineers in Canada are women.

Numbers across the board have been stubbornly stagnant: 13.7 per cent of engineers in Quebec are women, almost 18 per cent of undergraduate students enrolled in engineering programs in Quebec are women, and only 13.8 per cent of faculty members in engineering programs across Canada were women in 2014.

At the same time, young women seeking challenging careers are filling medical schools and law classes.

Whether it’s a perception problem or a question of removing systemic barriers that are preventing women from becoming engineers, the numbers are a real problem.

“It’s still a mystery why so many women are in medical school compared to engineering,” said Annie Ross, deputy director of the department of mechanical engineering at Polytechnique and holder of the Marianne-Mareschal Chair in promoting engineering for women.

“Women want to have an impact on society but they don’t realize they can do that through engineering,” she said in an interview. “It’s all about making a better world. Doctors do it through biology, but engineers do it through technology.”

Nadia Bhuiyan, a professor in the department of mechanical and industrial engineering at Concordia University, agreed that girls want to go into fields to “better the world” but they’re not understanding how that happens through engineering.

“The fact is that all disciplines in engineering help to better the world,” she said. “What is needed is to show girls at a young age how engineering does these things.”

There is an incredible amount of outreach being organized through all of Montreal’s engineering schools to explain the field to young girls. There are camps, math workshops, conferences and information sessions targeting elementary and high school students so they can make informed decisions about their career options.

“Despite all of these efforts, it looks like the numbers are not improving in leaps and bounds,” said Bhuiyan. “I think we need to find more creative ways of getting the word out to girls.”

There is, finally, a glimmer of hope that things are starting to improve, said Jeanette Southwood, vice-president of strategy and partnerships for Engineers Canada, a national organization for engineers.

The 30 by 30 campaign aims to raise the percentage of newly-licensed engineers that are women to 30 per cent by 2030 — and it’s starting to have some success, according to Southwood. Prince Edward Island and Manitoba have already reached 25 per cent.

In universities, 26 per cent of the 2015 class at Polytechnique this fall was women. The University of Toronto now says 30 per cent of its first-year students in engineering are women, the University of British Columbia has almost achieved that and is aiming for 50 per cent female enrolment by 2020.

“There is still a lot of work to be done,” said Southwood. “But I’m now very optimistic that we can boost the numbers.”