Do you think women are fully supported to pursue an engineer career?

I have chosen No, but I feel it needs an explanation.

From a point of view of introducing women to the engineering career, and supporting them to study to become an engineer, I have to say that in many countries there is an adequate support available, and many other are making big steps forward. In fact, a very vigorous encouragement to pursue any STEM career, at least here in UK, is particularly felt, especially when the girls are any good at science or maths (going around the school with my daughter, listening to teachers pitching their subject for choosing GCSE subjects has been an eye opener!).

So, definitely a lot of pressure is put on a girl at the time of choosing to pursue a career in engineering (both because engineers are always needed and also to try to prove we live in countries of equal opportunities), which sometimes might lead to forgetting what those girls really want to do in their life. Surely, all this should point towards answering Yes to the poll question.

But actually, everything changes when it comes to support given to women entering real world job market and the working career. Despite all the big steps forward in equal opportunity, the vast majority of engineering positions are filled by men. And the more you move to the top of career ladder, the less women can be found. Sure, this is largely due to the fact the engineering world seems to be still a men realm. But I have to say, in my experience, it is not just a statistical result: only very few, and truly exceptional women, managed to progress in their career to the very top, often loosing promotion to a far less worthy man candidates. This is where the real support should be. And should start at workplace. I agree most of the disparities lie in the social and cultural background of parents, families, communities and institutions, but even in the most advanced countries we are still far from gender neutral meritocracy .

Men have a wider networks of connections, and often far more influential and powerful, which leads to men choosing other men for powerful positions, most of the time without malice or real will to discriminate, being really convinced they make the best choice. But the result is gender inequality nonetheless. It is a dog chasing its tail. So, this is  where my "No" is coming from.

Ultimately I think us parents and grandparents, first of all, need to take responsibility, by teaching our children and grandchildren (both girls and boys) to recognise merit above all, as the only "just" way of organising any society. In time, this value would trickle into all layers of society...but this might turn out to be just another utopia.

I have chosen No, but I feel it needs an explanation.

From a point of view of introducing women to the engineering career, and supporting them to study to become an engineer, I have to say that in many countries there is an adequate support available, and many other are making big steps forward. In fact, a very vigorous encouragement to pursue any STEM career, at least here in UK, is particularly felt, especially when the girls are any good at science or maths (going around the school with my daughter, listening to teachers pitching their subject for choosing GCSE subjects has been an eye opener!).

So, definitely a lot of pressure is put on a girl at the time of choosing to pursue a career in engineering (both because engineers are always needed and also to try to prove we live in countries of equal opportunities), which sometimes might lead to forgetting what those girls really want to do in their life. Surely, all this should point towards answering Yes to the poll question.

But actually, everything changes when it comes to support given to women entering real world job market and the working career. Despite all the big steps forward in equal opportunity, the vast majority of engineering positions are filled by men. And the more you move to the top of career ladder, the less women can be found. Sure, this is largely due to the fact the engineering world seems to be still a men realm. But I have to say, in my experience, it is not just a statistical result: only very few, and truly exceptional women, managed to progress in their career to the very top, often loosing promotion to a far less worthy man candidates. This is where the real support should be. And should start at workplace. I agree most of the disparities lie in the social and cultural background of parents, families, communities and institutions, but even in the most advanced countries we are still far from gender neutral meritocracy .

Men have a wider networks of connections, and often far more influential and powerful, which leads to men choosing other men for powerful positions, most of the time without malice or real will to discriminate, being really convinced they make the best choice. But the result is gender inequality nonetheless. It is a dog chasing its tail. So, this is  where my "No" is coming from.

Ultimately I think us parents and grandparents, first of all, need to take responsibility, by teaching our children and grandchildren (both girls and boys) to recognise merit above all, as the only "just" way of organising any society. In time, this value would trickle into all layers of society...but this might turn out to be just another utopia.