While working on their year-long engineering project, seniors Libby Mullican, Johannes Seberger and Kaden Beck discuss what materials they should use.
Gender disparity creates a male-dominated atmosphere in engineering classes
In engineering and construction electives, students enrolled are predominantly male
Walking into Engineering Design and Development, you initially see many heads staring at their computers. When engineering teacher Gayle Kebodeaux goes to take attendance, you realize only four female names out of 24 total are called. This is the norm for all engineering classes at the school.
Kebodeaux believes the lack of females is a result of a little representation in the workforce.
“Once they get [into engineering classes], being in the minority doesn’t bother them as much as the intimidation factor coming in. The perception of an engineer as an old, white guy is very intimidating and not something you want to do,” Kebodeaux said. “If they don’t see females in the STEM profession, it’s going to be hard for them to imagine themselves as that.”
Senior Aniston Cumbie agrees, as she believes this can be daunting for prospective students.
“I feel like it discourages [girls] a little bit because you feel a little bit more out of place than a guy would in engineering,” Cumbie said.
Senior Will Hecht thinks a male-heavy class could help males’ confidence to speak out in class.
“Subconsciously, I could see [the gender disparity] making me more comfortable to express my thoughts in class,” Hecht said.
By being a female engineering teacher, Kebodeaux hopes to show females how they can fit in in the field.
“I hope to expose females to and help them understand that they can be a part of this and they can succeed,” Kebodeaux said.
Despite not personally being affected by the disparity, Hecht understands it may have negative effects.
“Personally, I don’t really see any of the effects of the disparity, but it’s definitely there,” Hecht said. “I could see how it could make a person uncomfortable, or even just have the effect of hindering how many points of view there are in class.”
A study by Microsoft shows that females start to lose interest in STEM careers around age 11. Kebodeaux believes another reason for the lack is females is the stigma that surrounds females going into these fields.
“They suddenly become different in how they want to be perceived,” Kebodeaux said “It’s not [young girls’] abilities or their intelligence, it’s more their perception.”
When she was a practicing engineer, Kebodeaux did not let the stigma bother her, but now hopes to change things for the younger generation.
“I was lucky in that mentally I thought, ‘I’m an engineer.’ I didn’t think of myself as a female engineer,” Kebodeaux said. “I just didn’t let it bother me, but looking back … if I was still in the workforce, and there were younger females in the workforce, I would ask that it be changed for them.”