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Diversity Matters: Why Female (Transportation) Engineers Matter & How to Encourage Them

By Ms. Krista Purser posted 02-23-2017 11:30 AM

  

On a typical weekday, I’ll wake up, get ready, and bike to work. I get going on projects, whether that be transportation impact analyses, transit feasibility, or final roadway design. I’ll pop into coworkers’ offices to make transportation jokes and I’ll try to time my commute home to avoid the rain. 

My day doesn’t look too much different than any of my coworkers’ days. Nobody tells me, my female peers, nor my female project managers that we don’t belong. Nobody tells us that our work is subpar in comparison to our male peers. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. It’s the diversity in experiences that bring about successful projects and ultimately furthers the transportation field. 

Let’s take a step back. My typical day implies that everything is, and perhaps has always been, easy for women in engineering. This is not the case. So much was done in the generations before us. One of my college professors, during her university career, was both marked lower than her male friends when they got the same answer on problem sets and given extra points since she “couldn’t keep up with the boys”, leading to despise from male peers. Many professionals who were the first females in their organization were passed up for promotions and told they couldn’t achieve as much as the men. Yes, times have changed and big leaps have been taken. 

And yes, there’s still more progress to be made.

University enrollment and employment statistics estimate that 20-25% of engineers are women. That’s simply not enough. A diversity in perspective improves individual projects, work and office culture, and the transportation field in its entirety.

 Without women in engineering roles, a woman’s perspective is simply not taken into account. Maybe that bike hook is slightly higher up and difficult for women who are, on average, shorter than men. That new trail would be better used if it were better lit and felt safer. That bus shelter would be more welcoming if had more than one access point and didn’t make users feel trapped. Better planning of pedestrian and bicycle facilities encourage active transportation for both genders, improving the health and economies of our communities.

These factors go beyond a commute choice. Take early airbags, which injured or killed women and children as they were designed to protect men. Consider that women are more likely to be carting around children, and won’t choose biking as a travel option unless there’s more bicycle lane separation from vehicles. Professionals plan and design based on their own experiences and knowledge. More women in the transportation arena means more experiences, more perspectives, and more safety for all users.

Yes, we need more women in transportation. So how do we do that?

Encourage young women. I was lucky enough to have a string of brilliant women lead me in my career path, from science teachers in high school to the professor of my first transportation class to the president of our university’s Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) chapter. Because of their example, I’ve never seen my gender as a hurdle to a career in transportation. Get involved with ITE or other organizations. Reach out to elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools. Promote transportation as an option to all. 

Engage your community. More women in transportation is not limited to transportation engineers and planners. Are all users’ voices being heard at public meetings? Have we considered improved street lighting on walkways? How about in signal operations? Should there be more time given to the yellow for a slower cyclist to clear the intersection? With an increase of two working parents, does our land use reflect childcare access on the way to the office? Ask bigger questions and give all community members a voice. 

Think globally. Think big. Pink Ladies, Pink Taxis, and She-Taxi are women-only transportation services in the UK, Mexico, and India, respectively. Despite stark differences in women’s safety on public transportation, they provide similar services. As our field moves toward connected and autonomous vehicles, how will this impact women’s transportation services and choices? What about other transportation technologies? Are we overlooking factors within Smart Communities that will impact men and women differently? Getting women involved in these discussions early on helps us avoid the “early airbag”, our blind spots. 

Yes, there’s a lot to be done, and we need you to be a part of it. 

We need diverse perspectives and diverse minds in the transportation field to create better communities. Join in the discussion about health, safety, technology, connected and autonomous vehicles, and everything transportation with the folks of the Institute of Transportation Engineers. Learn more about the ever-changing industry at ite.org.

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05-14-2017 07:40 PM

25% of engineers being women isn't enough?  According to whom?

It would only be unfair if girls were being told they can't become engineers.  That's absolutely not the case - and it hasn't been, for decades.

We should not be recruiting people into engineering just because they're girls.

On the contrary: We need to reach out to *every* smart, hardworking, critically thinking person, regardless of whether they're girls or boys, because that's how we'll get the best and brightest minds.

it's simply wrong to recruit future engineers based on their sex (or skin color, etc.).  That's called discrimination, and it frankly undermines and demeans what female engineers do.  Diversity-recruting makes it look like we women engineers are only here for diversity, rather than the fact that we bust our tails and we make sound engineering decisions, day in, day out.

03-20-2017 11:47 PM

Lots of groups feel marginalized in the Transportation Engineering ecosystem, especially in those where opportunities are hard to come by. Please push this agenda, as an international student trying to find opportunities through my school has been discouraging, but reading this was motivational.

02-24-2017 09:50 AM

Great article Krista, and I totally support what you're saying.  I would just add that ITE (and the transportation profession) should explicitly welcome everyone into the discussion - women and men, the LGBTQ community, people of all different backgrounds - all perspectives need to be heard.  I was disappointed that the recent ITE issue on diversity did not address this, and I would encourage ITE to be more open.