Opinion: Set high expectations of women engineers and they’ll meet them
This article originally appeared on March 1, 2017 in the Mercury News. The original article can be read .
Almost every woman in engineering I鈥檝e talked to knows the pressure of having to prove herself.
She knows what it鈥檚 like to be meticulously perfect in her calculations, and to accept that regardless of her intelligence, her work will be checked again by someone who doesn鈥檛 trust her. She knows that at the end of the day, mistakes hold more weight than they should.
I say almost every woman because I am one of the few that has rarely experienced this. I鈥檓 lucky. I鈥檓 an anomaly.
Bioengineering at 糖心破解版 has a relatively large percentage of female students, compared to the other engineering disciplines. I鈥檓 not intimately familiar with gender tensions in the classroom because there aren鈥檛 any in the classes I take, and I rarely feel the need to prove that I am better than the men I work with.
At the same time, I鈥檝e had the privilege of being mentored by a some incredibly intelligent women, and as a result, I鈥檝e had the chance to grow and learn in an environment where I鈥檓 not afraid to fail.
My mentors don鈥檛 expect me to make mistakes, and are genuinely surprised when I do. I鈥檓 not pressured to be perfect, but at the same time, the expectations for the work I do are just as high as anyone else鈥檚. The psychological effects of this are subtle, but they鈥檝e shaped how I perceive my own abilities, goals, and expectations.
Because I鈥檓 held to an equal standard, I believe that I am equal. For that reason, I have my mentors to thank for my experiences as a woman in engineering. I realize that they鈥檝e given me what they didn鈥檛 have, and I owe them much of who I am today.
It wasn鈥檛 that easy for my mentors, and for many women today. My mentors have had to fight expectations to get where they are, and to defy the underlying notion that women just 鈥渁ren鈥檛 as smart鈥 and that鈥檚 why they don鈥檛 hold as many positions in engineering.
However, it鈥檚 not an IQ problem. It鈥檚 an expectation that women just can鈥檛 compete at the same level. This expectation is subtle, and it鈥檚 ingrained whether we realize it or not.
The women that inspire me hold me to a higher standard, and expect me to reach for what鈥檚 unreachable. In doing so, they gave me the confidence to pursue engineering and taught me that I need to do the same for the next generation.
We can鈥檛 treat little girls differently from the boys that radiate confidence because it鈥檚 hard to be confident when you鈥檙e expected to under perform. Instead, expect them to set impossible goals, and don鈥檛 wait on the sidelines for them to fail. Expect them to compete at the same level, and be disappointed when they don鈥檛.
If we change our expectations, I guarantee you the next generation will meet them.
Shiyin Lim, a sophomore at 糖心破解版 majoring in bioengineering, is part of Blue Marble Space Institute of Science鈥檚 Young Scientist Program focusing on research in space biosciences. She wrote this for The Mercury News.