It may have started as a recruitment campaign, but #ILookLikeAnEngineer is now a global sensation. Almost a million females have participated in the social media trend to celebrate their role in the engineering industry and help break the gender stereotype.
Carpenter Marty Transportation is happy to support the viral movement and highlight our female engineers.
“The thing I love most about civil engineering is being able to drive down a street and randomly get excited that I designed that traffic signal or I did a safety study at that intersection. Being able to see your work implemented is the best feeling. I also love being able to debate traffic issues with people. Everyone has to deal with traffic every day and everyone has an idea of how to fix the issues.” -Gina Balsamo, PE
Carpenter Marty Transportation serves as a corporate sponsor to the WTS Columbus Chapter. One of their many programs geared toward advancing women in transportation is their “TransportationYou” program. The program offers young girls (ages of 13-18) an introduction to a wide variety of transportation careers. They do this through demonstrations, mentorships, field trips, and hands-on opportunities. The goal of the program is to inspire girls to take Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) courses and explore a career in transportation.
“I became interested in engineering in high school, thanks to my teachers. As a TransportationYou volunteer, it’s great to be able to provide inspiration and mentoring to young girls. I’m blessed to be involved in an organization of like-minded individuals who think about their journey (whether it’s cross-country or just to the mailbox) in the same way that I do.” -Kristine Connolly, PE
According to a National Girls Collaborative Project (The State of Girls and Women in STEM, 2013), girls are taking on high level mathematics and science courses at a similar rate to their male peers. The eye-opener is that only about 16.5% of civil engineers in Ohio are women (Ohio Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2014).
Organizations, like Ohio STEM Learning Network (OSLN), have taken initiative by developing mentorship programs. The Society of Women Engineers boasts itself as a “driving force that establishes engineering as a highly desirable career aspiration for women.” There are even websites, like Engineergirl.org, that are designed to appeal to children and all they could possibly want to know about engineering. All this effort is to educate and break the gender stereotype.
“I would advise girls who are considering engineering as a career path to go for it! I think that everyone should follow their passion, regardless of gender stereotypes. There are many great groups devoted to promoting women in engineering fields that you can get involved in and get support from.” -Beth Kronk, PE
Click here for more information on @IsisAnchalee and how she started the #ILookLikeAnEngineer global social media trend.
