Women in Engineering: A Simple Mathematical Theory for the Rate of Adverse Experiences
Recruitment and retention of women in engineering fields is an ongoing issue although much progress has been made. Despite excellent company and institution policies, many female engineers report adverse experiences. As an engineer with 14 years of experience in both industry and academia, I have experienced some working environments with excellent cultures as well some where multiple frustrating incidents occurred, similar to those described elsewhere (e.g. Miller, G. E. (2004), Gender Work and Organization 11(1): 47-73) and which can be considered discriminatory.
Anecdotal stories from female engineers (including myself) can be grouped into one of three categories:
1. No or very few adverse experiences as a woman in engineering
2. A series of minor incidents have occurred, but no “major” incidents
3. Serious sexual harassment or discrimination incidents
Why do some women engineers report no issues, and others report multiple incidents?
This paper proposes a simple, probability based explanation for the first two categories above, where there are either no incidents or a string of minor incidents experienced by the female engineer. An anecdotally observed pattern is described, where women who report no or very few adverse experiences tend to work in organisations with a higher proportion of women. Based on this, the paper outlines a light-hearted mathematical description of why, regardless of organizational culture, the ratio of men to women in an organisation is a strong factor in the rate of adverse events experienced by female engineers.