Elon Musk and the Lack of Women at Waterloo Engineering

Editor’s Note: This article has been modified from its original state. It previously contained a quote from an University of Waterloo student that was not intended for publication. This quote has been removed.

The founder of Tesla and co-founder of PayPal, Elon Musk, was recently quoted in a Queen’s University Alumni Magazine stating that one of the reason he choose to attend Queen’s over Waterloo engineering was because he visited the campus, “and there didn’t seem to be any girls there. So I visited Queen’s and there were girls there. I didn’t want to spend my undergraduate time with a bunch of dudes.”

Although it would be nice to pretend that Musk’s comments were made because he believes that a more diverse classroom enriches the learning experience, there’s a reason he asked for this specific comment to be off the record: because he knew it was inherently sexist. Musk made a decision to attend a university where he would have a better chance of meeting women (to date, it’s assumed). Because, of course, men go to university to learn, and women go to university so men can have something pretty to look at, while they learn. But regardless of the sexism of Musk’s statement, it was made in an offhand comment that was quite honest in what affected his decision about where to attend university.

In response to Musk, Waterloo Engineering made a video that was half-satire, half-serious and mostly cringe-worthy (enough to go viral on Reddit). The video admits that Musk was right – back in the 90’s when he visited the campus there weren’t a lot of women. But since then, they’ve “spruced the place up,” – by setting out flowers and spraying perfume on textbooks. Most comments on the YouTube and Facebook page make it clear that viewers aren’t sure whether or not to take the video seriously. If the video was meant to be a lighthearted joke, it’s clear that Waterloo Engineering missed the mark – by a lot. They also missed what could have been a perfect opportunity to discuss the lack of women in engineering at Waterloo.

The tone of the video makes it clear that the Waterloo Engineering administration has no plans to acknowledge that Musk’s comments are actually based in fact. I am sure the numbers of women in engineering have gone up since the 90’s – but as any second-year student taking a stats course will tell you, that’s a useless statistic. The statistic that actually matters is: 18.5% of undergraduate engineering students in 2012 were women. That’s an embarrassing statistic for the Waterloo Engineering regardless of how it compares to the 90’s or to other engineering faculties in the country.

Not acknowledging these numbers also makes it clear that the University will not do anything to attract more women to its engineering program – or to provide support for the ones that are already here. Waterloo Engineering is dominated by male students and male culture. This is an uncomfortable reality that many women in engineering live with. From personal experience I can acknowledge that Waterloo Engineering is not always an inclusive environment for women. And this video, which lightheartedly brushes over the very real issues faced by women in Waterloo Engineering is incredibly insulting. Yes, Waterloo Engineering has turned out some amazing engineers, many of whom happened to be women. But, they made it against the odds – not because of them. Because at Waterloo, the odds are stacked against female engineers.

It was only 2 years ago that the University of Waterloo was terrorized by an anonymous propaganda campaign against women using Marie Curie as their poster woman for why women shouldn’t be allowed to gain higher education because “they’ll nuke the whole Planet.” While those posters were dismissed by the UW administration as the actions of a single person, they didn’t take into account comments like those made by a UW student online who claimed that there are fewer women in Waterloo because “most girls don’t want to give the effort or sacrifice needed to go through the Engineering or Math program at UW.” While the poster attacks may not say anything about male culture at UW, these comments certainly did.

Waterloo Engineering has not even attempted to take on the most basic of responsibilities that would make this campus a more inclusive place – such as providing gender and inclusivity training to first-year engineering students during Orientation week.

Sexism on university campuses is not limited to Waterloo. The University of British Columbia and Saint Mary’s University in Halifax have recently been highlighted in the news for orientation week chants about rape. But both University administrations have seriously responded to the incidents and have taken actions to prevent such incidents from reoccurring. At Waterloo, we force a laugh.