IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - June 2019 - 29

culture as "a set of largely unacknowledged assumptions held by a loosely
outlined group of people mapping negotiations between the sacred and profane, and the relationship between the
sexes, with sexual differences unevenly
abstracting into gender and gendering. Gender and gendering is the chief
semiotic instrument of negotiations."
We consider culture to be the greatest
factor in shaping our women engineers
to be both women and engineers. Their
culture is ingrained, conditioning their
every practice. Most of our engineers
see work as a stepping stone to the next
level in their lives, i.e., marriage. In and
of itself, work has little significance for
them unless it creates a bridge to family life and allows a sensible work/life
balance. Thus, their ambition for career
advancement is tentative and full of reservations. They understood education as
a key to securing lucrative employment
and that being securely employed will
raise their marriage prospects for a suitably employed male. Since polygamy for
men is legal in Malay Muslim culture
(11 of our 13 engineers are ethnic Malay
Muslims), divorce is easy to obtain for
both men and women, and with a considerably high divorce rate (Nor et al.,
2017), having financial independence is
considered to be important for women.
Culture conditions the woman's role
in the social structure. One of our former male engineers once mentioned
that men uphold the dignity of women
in Malay Islamic society, so it is the
duty of women to honor men and the
duty of males to control the behavior of
women. Our female engineers dismissed
that notion as too conservative, yet they
believe female dignity is a legitimate
moral measure defined by society. Does
being an engineer hamper female dignity? Interestingly, most of our electrical
and electronic engineers experienced
that their elders, specifically male elders,
advised against certain engineering
domains, such as civil engineering. One
engineer's father recommended that she
select a branch of electrical/electronic engineering (biomedical engineering) that has a lower male enrollment,
steering her career toward a less male-

dominated arena. Few of our engineers
daughters to be teachers or nurses while
expressed the belief that some engineerpushing their sons to be engineers or
ing disciplines, such as civil or mechanimechanics. Most types of work have been
cal engineering, are difficult for women,
stereotypically allocated to males, even
despite the fact that their picturing
when the workload and requirements of
women overseeing a construction site
particular jobs drastically changed.
or repairing machines does not resonate
On a related issue, a man advancing
with the gender roles they were taught
his career is still perceived as a success,
or compelled to practice.
while a woman making a similar choice
After the focus group discussions
is negatively looked upon. In the same
with the female engineers, we also
manner, a woman loving her work is
decided to converse with the
understood to be disregarding
minority male engineers.
her true nature. Our engiIn and
They view women in
neers say they are happy
a male-dominated
in their work. They
of itself, work
work environment
like their colleagues,
has little significance
as constituting a
work environfor the young engineers the
progressive step.
ment accommodates
unless it creates a bridge them, engineering
One man said he
to family life and allows agrees with them,
understands the
contributions of
and someday, they
a sensible work/life
women to the econhope to advance their
balance.
omy and that he is not
qualifications and posioverly concerned if his
tion. However, during
partner, working in the same
the focus group discussions,
capacity as he, earns more. The only
despite the enthusiasm of the new
other male engineer expressed a condegraduates for their work, we perceived
scending attitude toward his female colthat they consider women as engineers
leagues, which we understood as related
to be different from men in engineerto his rank as a senior engineer. Howeving-this being not a matter of lack of
er, his personal belief is that men, by the
knowledge or skills but of perception of
virtue of their supposed strength, should
the gender roles in society.
be the head of the family. In our obserAs we pointed out previously, apart
vations, we realized that his collegial
from recruitment without bias, women
interactions are constantly perceived
desire an accommodating workplace
by the female engineers as speaking
environment, which permits a healthy
patronizingly to them.
work/life balance. They believe that
Are women allowed to love their
doing work they love and reaching the
work? When we asked our young colglass ceiling while having a robust famleagues why they chose engineering,
ily life should not be mutually exclusive
their answers ranged from their preferchoices-and that they should not be
ence for mathematics; their fascination
ostracized for electing to build a career
with sensors, actuators, algorithms, and
over bearing children. Along these lines,
modern technical gadgetry; and their
our engineers are provided with a workperpetual aversion to philosophy. While
place that encourages them to thrive, a
many of their likes and dislikes were
work environment they enjoy, and workclear, they were cautious in expressing a
place virtues that aim to create a prolove for their work. Faulkner (Faulkner,
ductive, secure space.
2009) coined the term gender in/authenThe young engineers frequently conticity to describe the pleasure a female
verse about gender in engineering and
technology and are motivated to sucengineer feels over her involvement in
ceed in both work and family. Notably,
a domain perceived as male and the
they are less inclined to "sit at the table"
authenticity men feel from working
or convert their negative experiences
in that field. It is the same sentiment
into their "fuel" or breach the glass
that leads parents to encourage their

JUNE 2019

IEEE WOMEN IN ENGINEERING MAGAZINE

IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - June 2019

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