While gender equality has increased dramatically over time – at least women are considered people now, right? – the world is by no means perfect. No one can claim that both genders have equal opportunities, or that gender stereotypes do not exist. By nature, we like to categorize and label. What is the point of this feminist rant? Unfortunately, people have always labeled engineering as “a male job”.
As a female engineering student, I can testify that my classes are majority guys, and this ratio directly transfers to the same situation in the real world as well. Facebook and Apple have realized that this is an issue, and decided to address this. In an effort to attract female employees, and to make sure that their current employees stay, they have offered to cover the cost of freezing the eggs of fertile women in order to allow them the option to delay having children, up to a maximum of $20,000. Egg extraction costs $10,000, with another $500 annually for storage.
The age at which women choose to start a family has been on the rise, with more women giving birth after thirty-five. This is risky because as a woman ages, the chances of getting pregnant in the first place decreases, and the chances of chromosomal abnormalities in the child increase. However, it turns out that these risks are not necessarily related to the age of the woman’s uterus, but of her eggs, so having the ability to freeze eggs opens up a whole new scope of options for female workers. This could be the key to allowing them to postpone starting a family until after they have been in the workplace long enough that they feel like they have already been successful.
It is fascinating to think that this type of technology is available, although it is still relatively new. Could these massive companies mean well by offering to cover the costs of this treatment? Is a woman’s successful family life really in their list of priorities? I think this sounds like wishful thinking, and is a way of gaining more support by being able to boast diversity.
I understand the appeal of wanting to establish yourself in your career first. As a female, in a male dominated field, and in general in a male dominated world, proving yourself and creating a name is important. But if you leave the field for however many years to raise your family, it can be tough to get back in as an older woman trying to build a name.
However, choosing to put work first is a matter of personal preference: regardless of the field. This is not a phenomena specific to women in computer engineering. Also, this is not a viable option for everyone: some women want to put their career first, but many don’t, and for them the company should have alternative options. It would be a better use of the company’s $20,000 to implement better maternity leave policies. This gives women an option to be on leave, and return knowing her position is not in jeopardy. They could also have child care in the workplace, to give women the option to work while raising a family. At the end of the day, every woman makes her own decision and if the company wants to be supportive of their female employees, they need to understand this and address each circumstance accordingly.
This does not even take into account the fact that this technology is far from perfect. The process is strenuous on the woman’s body, from injecting hormones to undergoing surgeries, and only about three in ten women can actually get pregnant.
I think they are putting too much emphasis on surveys which suggest women choose to leave the engineering field for maternal reasons, when in fact this is bound to happen in any field. It is not like engineering is particularly more rigorous or demanding of a career than others. The reason there are not many women in engineering is because highschool girls do not choose to enter this field, not because they leave when they are in their 20’s. Therefore, if companies such as Facebook and Apple genuinely want to make a real difference, they need to address the root of the problem, which comes back to stereotypes and opportunities. Even from a young age, girls are not encouraged to play with gadgets or take things apart, so this is not necessarily an idea she would consider when she is older and choosing her career path. And of course, this is traditionally a male dominated field. It is great that Facebook and Apple want to change the gender dynamic in their workforce, but they should be targeting teenage girls to encourage them to enter the field, rather than spending thousands on a risky procedure that still has a high failure rate.
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