The main struggle of a female software engineering student
being male dominated, STEM fields in general happen to be intimidating to young women and girls from the very beginning.
Here's a little background about me and my struggles with the field.
As a little girl i have always wanted to be an engineer. Having an uncle in this field always excited me especially being someone who loved (still love) to create and innovate. I remember when people around me always belittled the thought of a girl becoming an engineer, which of course brought my self esteem down. Later then I wished to become a doctor, which always -of course- did not seem right but the thought of success brought excitement to me. Eventually after high school, I obviously did not get into medicine school but to my surprise I ended up in an engineering school.
The thought of it scared me and I felt inferior to everyone, especially since ''boys'' invaded the school.
My first year was too tough, not only was there shock of the change of systems but also having to face different people with different minds. In addition to that, I knew I had to make it one way or another and I needed a little push.
So as you can tell the first main struggle of a female software engineering student is trying to find a way to "fit" into an entire different world - that is male dominant. You happen to feel slightly inferior and there is this stigma going on about how girls are too stupid to be able to innovate or understand tech. After years I believe I understand why that stigma goes around.
We all know how there is a weird outlook on women in general, how you should stay as feminine as possible even in choosing your field of studies and having a career plan. Feminine study field are apparently medicine, fashion, makeup industry, teaching and so on. These majors are obviously not being looked down upon but how come we decide to do so when it comes to tech ? Networks and Security, Software Engineering, Architecture, Civil and Industrial Engineering, etc.
Up til this day I can not find a valid logical answer to that question, and what is even sadder is the fact that girls at such young age fall in the trap of believing in such stereotypes.
My goal after adapting myself with people in this field is to encourage more women - young , adult , elder as well - to empower themselves when they know they have the potential to join tech. I wish to see more girls being fully confident in their innovation, joining one another to clear up the stigma and unite in order to get rid of any toxic mindset relating to women in tech. I wish to see all genders come together finally and not push one another down because I believe this upcoming generation has the potential to change and improve what wasn't well taken care of by the past ones.
My first year was too tough, not only was there shock of the change of systems but also having to face different people with different minds. In addition to that, I knew I had to make it one way or another and I needed a little push.
So as you can tell the first main struggle of a female software engineering student is trying to find a way to "fit" into an entire different world - that is male dominant. You happen to feel slightly inferior and there is this stigma going on about how girls are too stupid to be able to innovate or understand tech. After years I believe I understand why that stigma goes around.
We all know how there is a weird outlook on women in general, how you should stay as feminine as possible even in choosing your field of studies and having a career plan. Feminine study field are apparently medicine, fashion, makeup industry, teaching and so on. These majors are obviously not being looked down upon but how come we decide to do so when it comes to tech ? Networks and Security, Software Engineering, Architecture, Civil and Industrial Engineering, etc.
Up til this day I can not find a valid logical answer to that question, and what is even sadder is the fact that girls at such young age fall in the trap of believing in such stereotypes.
My goal after adapting myself with people in this field is to encourage more women - young , adult , elder as well - to empower themselves when they know they have the potential to join tech. I wish to see more girls being fully confident in their innovation, joining one another to clear up the stigma and unite in order to get rid of any toxic mindset relating to women in tech. I wish to see all genders come together finally and not push one another down because I believe this upcoming generation has the potential to change and improve what wasn't well taken care of by the past ones.
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