Women in Engineering, Faculty of Engineering in Bilbao

Abstract

The situation of women in the engineering world has different aspects. On the one hand, it can be stated that women are well received in certain areas of the technological world, and they are very integrated into academia. In other areas, such as the world of industrial business, recognition is more complex being those less open environments. Last century, the woman who broke the taboo in Spain was the mayor of Bilbao and the first industrial engineer graduated in Spain in 1912, Pilar Careaga. By means of her public presence, her message could reach the general society, but as something exceptional. At the Faculty of Engineering in Bilbao, the first female Industrial Engineer was Pilar Ipiña, graduated in 1965. Fifty-three years had passed. Women in Engineering, more than a century later, remain a clear minority. While it is true that the presence of women in engineering schools is socially fully accepted, it is no less true that many young women dismiss the possibility of approaching that world from an early age. The lack of benchmarks seems to be a clear factor. Many of the engineers who are being interviewed in the search for ideas to motivate girls and young women, end up seeing lacks of references when asked about it. While the experience of being a woman in such a traditionally male field has lights and shadows, reflect of what can be seen in different referenced studies, a positive message must be transmitted, as this has been the experience of both engineering students and workers in academia or in the business world. Proposing solutions to smooth out the differences in numbers between men and women in the world of Engineering and Science requires knowing the causes, in order to be able to carry out actions that lead to collecting women's talent and with the appropriate training give it all the value that can achieve, both in the improvement of society as a whole and in the personal development of each of them. The aim is to achieve real equal choice between women and men and put everyone at the service of a better society. Equality is theoretically achieved, but it can still be improved.