Engineering in DCU
Engineering a gender-balance

It is well known that the number of women entering engineering programmes is low and that specific measures are needed to bring about a greater gender balance within the profession. Historically, female students have tended to veer away from engineering as an option, viewing it as a male-oriented subject, with limited prospects for female graduates. The lack of women entering engineering programmes in the first place makes this a self-perpetuating problem.

As early as the mid-1980's, DCU's school of engineering took the initiative and set up a summer school which targeted second-level female school-leavers. It gave them the opportunity to talk to engineering lecturers about the subject generally, and to other academics such as Dr Maggie Gibbon of SALIS with whom they could explore feminist ideas on prejudice and discrimination in the classroom and in society. While Prof Charles McCorkell was the original pioneer, the project has now been taken over by Dr Jennifer Bruton who continues the process by visiting mainly girls schools in the Dublin area, giving talks about engineering as a career, and trying to dispel the stereotypical perspectives that young women might still have.

DCU has now become involved in a new initiative called Mentorlink.ie which takes up the gender issue and continues to encourage women to look at engineering as a viable career option. Our representative on the project is Dr Lisa Looney of the school of mechanical engineering.

Mentorlink.ie is three-year project, funded by the Equality for Women Measure, the National Development Plan and the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. It consists of a comprehensive examination of all the gender issues associated with engineering in an attempt to address the problem of the shortfall of women who enter the profession.

Dublin City University, in partnership with the Institute of Technology, Tallaght, represented by Lucy McAuley, is now working together with an advisory committee, comprising the Institute of Engineers of Ireland, the Construction Industry Federation, Hewlett Packard, IBM and Intel. The committee plays a vital role in the success of the programme, as they will identify participants for the programme, provide access to possible mentors and publicise the new initiative through their websites and journals.

The Mentorlink.ie project intends to work with female engineers both before and after they qualify, creating networks which will support them through their studies and throughout their careers. To complement this, there has been a created a database of mentors has been created, who will be able to provide support on an individual basis to fellow engineers. This will allow women to become role models for others within the profession, and provide guidance and support in the face of what is mainly considered amongst female engineers and technicians as 'indirect' discrimination, whereby women feel they are guided into 'softer' career options.

As well as carrying out extensive surveys of women working in the field of engineering, the project will implement the three 'Mellow' model recommendations, which came about as the result of a European Commission Action programme. Firstly, second-level students will work 'in the field' with a female engineer for a day to get a realistic view of her work. Secondly, female engineering students who are approaching the end of their studies will be mentored for a period of six months before and six months after graduation to ease the transition into employment. And thirdly senior female engineers will coach junior women engineers in the development of their careers.

This initiative will hopefully bring about a change in the perceptions of engineering so that when the word engineer is mentioned, it won't automatically be referred to as 'he'.