Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 29, 1988, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press february 1988 pages 1320 Norman Polanski latest fizzles As a engineering slowly Sheds image As males Only club by Doreen Martens hungarian born Judy Weiszmann took it for granted when she entered University in Budapest that Engi Neering was a Good profession for a nearly a Quarter of her 1954 graduating class was two years when she and her husband Erwin fled to Canada As she was surprised to learn women engineers were unheard of in Manitoba and that she would face extra barriers to entering the profession while my husband got his registration As an Engineer almost Auto for me it took some in spite of the fact i graduated from the same she thirty years engineering is a More common Choice for Young Canadian and easier to but the old image of Engi Neering As a male world int gone yet not by a Long although one other woman had been registered with the association of professional engineers of Weiszmann believes she was the first in the province to actually she has done so since 1959 in a partnership with her continuing to work while raising two persuade she wrote exams to persuade dubious authorities of her but Middle class prejudices proved a bigger when we first came Here never mind that i was an Engi Neer people understand Why my husband sent me to they sort of a Middle class professional should not make his poor wife Shes supposed to be at Home waiting for Hubby to come Home for they just understand that i wanted to that i had a chosen profession which i wanted to attitudes have changed and affirmative action programs though controversial have raised the prominence of women in the not Only Are women graduates being hired in equal proportions to their male but there also Are signs that old prejudices Are being Irene for was chosen senior stick class presi Dent of the University of Manito Bas engineering faculty last year the first woman so honoured in the departments 81year his yet men still outnumber women 9tol in engineering programs and almost 99tol in the number registered with the provincial Assoc a although separate statistics Arent registrar William Mackenzie estimates that Only 30 to 35 of Manitoba engineers Are at the u of females now aver age about 10 per cent of the Engi Neering but that still Low in comparison to ratios in Medicine and women students tend to blame their Low numbers on poor counsel Ling at the High school level and ignorance about machines a lot of people i talk to who have no exposure to engineering associate it with equip heavy male dominant things there not aware of the design aspects that go into explains student Lori despite the Engineer ing is basically an office occupy though hard hats and heavy boots May be donned yet telling people what you do for a living can Stop conversation says who earned a Bache Lor of arts and worked several years before entering i think a lot of dont know How to they dont know whether to that great youre an or that terrible Why Are you an Engineer Many of the current crop of Stu dents admit even they had Little idea what engineers actually do before they started they cite an aptitude for maths and an interest in creating something tangible and and Strong income prospects aver age to after two years As their main reasons for choosing the not Only but its not Only Lack of aware Ness that makes engineering an unlikely Choice for Young hydraulics specialist Carolyn who graduated in 1985 and now is one of two women working for the consulting firm Engi says discouragement begins with parents and others who Daw Folk pbt88 Weiszmann had to persuade authorities of her abilities warn prospective engineering Stu dents that its All Guys out if youre Good at sciences or you go into science or you dont go into be cause engineers have to be me according to that what i was scared about i thought you had to be mechanically inclined to go into she explains with a Baron says prejudice these Days is expressed very subtly its usually on the first where youll sometimes get a look from a client that whats she doing you have to make sure that you say the right thing and sound and till usually go away after about 10 Many women who have made it in engineering did so with Good family sup sometimes from parents who ignored convention and gave their daughters tinkertoy and Tonka trucks As they were growing but few say they were really Tom Shirley a civil Engineer with Pratt cred its her Engineer father for recognizing her aptitude for the Field and encouraging her to go into when she graduated 12 years ago there were Only two other women in her and a couple of Prospect Ive employers had the temerity to ask her whether she could there Are More than 100 women studying engineering in and Matile thinks there a lot More sure of them of who they Are and where there than we greater Sel Confidence May be partly a product of feeling like just one of the Guys in a close knit department where students have to work cooperatively to sur Vive four years of rigorous female students say that if they experience prejudice on it comes from people in no Engineer ing not from students with whom they sceptical that May be one reason Why female engineers have become increasingly sceptical of affirmative action programs As Practised in some government corporations notably Manitoba the tar get of discrimination complaints by two male graduates last for the most part its seen As a mixed says who thinks some women Are being hired into positions for which there not Well its like be cause they should have been hiring women when they had the Choice Between a woman and a Man who were equally and they gave the upper Edge to the now there faced with a situation where they have to hire women into positions to meet a and they dont have Good candidates available All the women group both experienced engineers such As Weiszmann and newcomers say they prefer to be treated on an equal basis with male some even eschew women in Sci ence and a 400mem Ber society of female on the grounds that separate groups for women Are counter productive to equal a lot of women who go into engineering tend to be very because it takes quite a decision to go into a Field which has been typically dominated by they tend to like to be recognized for their Mikawoz at the same women Engi neers expect to have a regular family most marry within a few years of the major Ity to other female lawyers quit jobs by Barbara Robson female lawyers Are giving up of their Ca Reers at almost double the rate of their male count according to figures from the Law society of Mani of the 395 female lawyers who have been called to the bar in Manitoba and remain on Law society almost 30 per cent Are described As no practising or inactive by Only 16 per cent of male lawyers admit Ted to the bar Are no longer practising among the no practising lawyers of both sexes Are those who have been called to the Bench and now serve As a few of the women who have failed to pay last years annual fee to practise now teach Law or work for government but the whereabouts of Many is Graeme chief executive officer of the Law so said he has not studied the last month an associate professor at Toronto Osgoode Hall Law school told a Law conference that women were for the first time in history voting with their feet and walking out of the Mary Jane Mossman said Between and female lawyers had allowed their 000 annual fee to the Law society of upper Canada to lapse in recent thus forfeiting their right to prac Tise in Mossman later said in a Tele phone interview that those statistics were drawn from her lon term research still in other researchers have that in Large Law firms in Toronto More women than men Are working part doing work that enjoys less and Are much More Likely to be associate Law partners than full part ners in a among the women who remain in prac indications Are that their family relationships practising women lawyers Are separated or never married almost twice As often As she Mossman speculates that it May not be the nature of Legal work which drives women from the but the organizational Structure in Large at the same Many lawyers of both sexes find that to establish a prac Tice on their own is not a financial at the other end of the spec the number of women who Are entering the Legal profession has increased dramatically since the Early Mossman when you re hit by climbing Prei i m ii i is ii k i mini King youre one of Thuysa ids who be been hit by the Auto poc Cru h flow its time to find out join fora Headon collision Between government and the people it Ien a Popae minister Bill Uruski defends is Yove Inmei its live in our hell face the Challenge of opposition critic Glen Cummings aut Opac activist Angela and Moderator Stu the a Popae a very Ive tuesday at 011 car f crunch news that hits Home ;