Vision Lent 2016

t’s a simple observation - there are simply not enough female engineers. Despite efforts to recruit more young females into the profession there is still a huge gender disparity primarily driven by societal expecta-tions when it comes to the sciences. The UN’s HeForShe campaign has plunged this issue back into the spotlight, and has underlined the importance of equity in standards between the sexes, but why? Are there simply some professions that are better suited to the male disposition? This may be true, but I would argue engineering is not one of them, especially in the realm of international develop-ment.

Earlier this year Jared Mauldin, a mechanical engineer from Eastern Washington University wrote a letter addressed to "the women in my engineering classes" in which he stated that "you and I are in fact unequal". It was not a slander against the opposite sex, but a fair critique on the difficulties women face simply by existing in a male-dominated field. This disparity was further thrown into the limelight with the furrows created by OneLogin’s recruiting campaign featuring Isis Anchalee Wenger. It seemed unfathomable that Isis could be an engineer without a mask of androgyny, a notion challenged by the #iLookLikeAnEngineer campaign which soon followed, taking social media by storm.

While currently only 14% of engineers are female, in the age of sustainable development and carbon control, diversity will certainly be the harbinger of novel ideas and effective practice. Though most women are choosing not to follow the path of engineering, their presence is none-theless essential.

The 2014 UN World Survey of the Role of Women in Development outlined that women and girls would feel the consequences of climate change most acutely through everything from employment to access to basic resources. Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women Phumzile Mlambo-Ngouka claimed that “women

should not be seen as victims, but as central actors in moving towards sustainability”. Women in the home will form the central body instigating change in practices from the grassroots when it comes to ecological conser-vation, sanitation and managing resources. In this capaci-ty, women everywhere will be able to positively impact change provided they have gender equality. That being said, equality in and of itself is a difficult task, especially when tradition and religion can play a governing role in habits. A hierarchical scale among the sexes is prevalent in many cultures around the world, especially in develop-ing countries where aid, disaster relief, and development are perpetual concerns for which engineers are sorely needed.

The true value of a female engineer can be seen in such environments where women would not feel comfortable engaging with a male archetype as that is not an ortho-dox custom in their village. Too many cases have been recorded of disused water pumps or abandoned sanita-tion facilities because the primary users were not consult-ed.

Former CEO of Oxfam Dame Barbara Stocking claimed that female water engineers can often lead the most effective projects by engaging local women and obtaining

specific directives. One such case of a female latrine built in a Pakistani refugee camp took into consid-eration safety factors raised about location and placed the facility centrally, while it also incorporated an indoor area for feminine products to be cleaned owing to the taboo of menstruation. Such integration of ideas empowers local women and underlines the necessity for female engineers.

With climate change on the forefront of development and design, aren’t we after new solutions to old problems? Perhaps all it takes is a fresh perspective from an unconventional candidate. Encompassing a unique perspective, empathy, resolved strength from flowering in an austere work culture and creative spins, women can form invaluable assets. I daresay it is time for the engineering industry to receive a shake-up for the benefit of all.

t is common knowledge that multinational corporations strategically seek low-wage labour in Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Caribbean, where industrial production is essentially identical to elswhere, only cheaper. More surprising to many consumers in the western world, however, is the revelation that their overseas labour force is documented to be between eighty and ninety per cent female.

In the countries affected, the traditionally female domain of agriculture and food production has been undermined by the growth of the monetised rural economy; commercial agriculture (coffee, cocoa, nuts) has replaced traditional systems of land tenure, helped on by privatisation policies which remove land from women’s customary ownership. The rise of neoliberalism in the 1970s and 1980s has accel-erated male migration to cities from rural areas, exacerbating the depression of the rural economies. This has led to a universal phenomenon known as the “feminisation of poverty”. Women’s labour has become characterised by low pay and deskilling sectors, such as factory, seasonal or migrant work, as well as unpaid labour, such as domestic production and childrearing. Despite the many different development trajectories adopted by different nation states, the “feminisation of poverty” stretches across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

At present, the UN goals of ‘Equality, Development and Peace’ are impossible to achieve because the exploitation of women is at the core of capitalist development: these inequalities are so subversive and so naturalised that the feminisation and racialisation of poverty is almost invisible. It is through the exploitation of women’s unpaid labour that the global economy is sustained; indeed, if women were not exploited, then capitalism would not have the means to sustain itself. Global feminism, therefore, is not simply about transferring power from one individual to another, but about changing the institu-tions and values that govern the international political economy.

Julie Hutchinson

Karishma Patel

THE FEMINISATION OF POVERTYThe original ad that spurred the movement

#ILookLikeAnEngineer

The trending hashtag inspired both women and men.

I

I

t’s a simple observation - there are simply not enough female engineers. Despite efforts to recruit more young females into the profession there is still a huge gender disparity primarily driven by societal expecta-tions when it comes to the sciences. The UN’s HeForShe campaign has plunged this issue back into the spotlight, and has underlined the importance of equity in standards between the sexes, but why? Are there simply some professions that are better suited to the male disposition? This may be true, but I would argue engineering is not one of them, especially in the realm of international develop-ment.

Earlier this year Jared Mauldin, a mechanical engineer from Eastern Washington University wrote a letter addressed to "the women in my engineering classes" in which he stated that "you and I are in fact unequal". It was not a slander against the opposite sex, but a fair critique on the difficulties women face simply by existing in a male-dominated field. This disparity was further thrown into the limelight with the furrows created by OneLogin’s recruiting campaign featuring Isis Anchalee Wenger. It seemed unfathomable that Isis could be an engineer without a mask of androgyny, a notion challenged by the #iLookLikeAnEngineer campaign which soon followed, taking social media by storm.

While currently only 14% of engineers are female, in the age of sustainable development and carbon control, diversity will certainly be the harbinger of novel ideas and effective practice. Though most women are choosing not to follow the path of engineering, their presence is none-theless essential.

The 2014 UN World Survey of the Role of Women in Development outlined that women and girls would feel the consequences of climate change most acutely through everything from employment to access to basic resources. Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women Phumzile Mlambo-Ngouka claimed that “women

should not be seen as victims, but as central actors in moving towards sustainability”. Women in the home will form the central body instigating change in practices from the grassroots when it comes to ecological conser-vation, sanitation and managing resources. In this capaci-ty, women everywhere will be able to positively impact change provided they have gender equality. That being said, equality in and of itself is a difficult task, especially when tradition and religion can play a governing role in habits. A hierarchical scale among the sexes is prevalent in many cultures around the world, especially in develop-ing countries where aid, disaster relief, and development are perpetual concerns for which engineers are sorely needed.

The true value of a female engineer can be seen in such environments where women would not feel comfortable engaging with a male archetype as that is not an ortho-dox custom in their village. Too many cases have been recorded of disused water pumps or abandoned sanita-tion facilities because the primary users were not consult-ed.

Former CEO of Oxfam Dame Barbara Stocking claimed that female water engineers can often lead the most effective projects by engaging local women and obtaining

specific directives. One such case of a female latrine built in a Pakistani refugee camp took into consid-eration safety factors raised about location and placed the facility centrally, while it also incorporated an indoor area for feminine products to be cleaned owing to the taboo of menstruation. Such integration of ideas empowers local women and underlines the necessity for female engineers.

With climate change on the forefront of development and design, aren’t we after new solutions to old problems? Perhaps all it takes is a fresh perspective from an unconventional candidate. Encompassing a unique perspective, empathy, resolved strength from flowering in an austere work culture and creative spins, women can form invaluable assets. I daresay it is time for the engineering industry to receive a shake-up for the benefit of all.

t is common knowledge that multinational corporations strategically seek low-wage labour in Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Caribbean, where industrial production is essentially identical to elswhere, only cheaper. More surprising to many consumers in the western world, however, is the revelation that their overseas labour force is documented to be between eighty and ninety per cent female.

In the countries affected, the traditionally female domain of agriculture and food production has been undermined by the growth of the monetised rural economy; commercial agriculture (coffee, cocoa, nuts) has replaced traditional systems of land tenure, helped on by privatisation policies which remove land from women’s customary ownership. The rise of neoliberalism in the 1970s and 1980s has accel-erated male migration to cities from rural areas, exacerbating the depression of the rural economies. This has led to a universal phenomenon known as the “feminisation of poverty”. Women’s labour has become characterised by low pay and deskilling sectors, such as factory, seasonal or migrant work, as well as unpaid labour, such as domestic production and childrearing. Despite the many different development trajectories adopted by different nation states, the “feminisation of poverty” stretches across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

At present, the UN goals of ‘Equality, Development and Peace’ are impossible to achieve because the exploitation of women is at the core of capitalist development: these inequalities are so subversive and so naturalised that the feminisation and racialisation of poverty is almost invisible. It is through the exploitation of women’s unpaid labour that the global economy is sustained; indeed, if women were not exploited, then capitalism would not have the means to sustain itself. Global feminism, therefore, is not simply about transferring power from one individual to another, but about changing the institu-tions and values that govern the international political economy.

Julie Hutchinson

Karishma Patel

THE FEMINISATION OF POVERTYThe original ad that spurred the movement

#ILookLikeAnEngineer

The trending hashtag inspired both women and men.

I

I

17

Fenja Akinde-Hummel (Cover Image), Becky Daltry, Christine Kim, David Baker, Benoit GilleBack cover image: AK Rockefeller, https://www.flickr.com/photos/alrockefeller/7449313874

Vision Lent 2016

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