Kesidis described an experience no one should have to go through
By: Stephanie Price, P.Eng., CAE, Engineers Canada Interim CEO
I read Cleoniki Kesidis’ piece in the Toronto Star last week with a heavy heart.
Kesidis described an experience no one should have to go through: of being directed into a career path at a young age with limited exposure to other options. And once into a STEM career, feeling unwelcome doing work that did not appeal to her.
She identifies several key issues that caused her to feel unwelcome: sexual harassment, gender bias, social isolation and a workaholic culture. STEM workplaces can undoubtedly be high-pressure work environments that don’t lend themselves to a good work-life balance. And there continue to be problems with discrimination and lack of support for women. These issues are real. They need to be addressed, and we in the engineering profession are doing much work to ensure they are.
But we need to change workplace culture in tandem with promoting STEM careers to young women. We need to ensure that once we overcome these challenges in the workplace, we have a steady flow of women coming into the profession to benefit from the improved culture.
Within engineering, there are many of examples of accomplished women taking on more senior roles and enjoying highly rewarding and satisfying careers. At the same time, the engineering profession is supporting systemic changes that are reducing the barriers to career success, like mentorship programs that allow young female engineers to take advantage of the knowledge and experience of those who have gone before them.
However, without a follow-on cohort of young women, none of the workplace changes that we’re working to achieve today will result in enduring change and true gender equality in STEM. There is strength in numbers, and we need to ensure that there is a cohort of young women ready to keep the momentum going lest we return to an unacceptable past.
Certainly no girl—or boy—should feel pressured to pursue a career they don’t want. For Engineers Canada and the work that we do to encourage young Canadians to pursue an engineering career, it’s not about simply pushing kids into STEM careers if they’re good at science and math. It’s about introducing them to engineering and giving them all the information they need in order to decide if it’s right for them.
National Engineering Month—which is just wrapping up—aims to do just that. With its theme of “There’s A Place For You,” the month’s activities give youth a flavour of what engineering is all about—and lets them discover if their interests and engineering intersect.
We hope that many youth—and many girls in particular—will discover that engineering is in fact a good fit for them. And we hope that with the work that the profession is currently undertaking, the workplace culture in our industry will be far improved once the next generation arrives in the workforce. And we hope that engineering will give them a successful and rewarding career.
It certainly has for me.
