Delaney Fitzgerald likes to think of her chosen career path as a superpower — a power many other women her age are also working toward.
The University of Idaho third-year computer science and engineering student has had a knack for engineering since grade school.
“I had always really liked computers,” Fitzgerald said. “You could always find me tinkering with them.”
But it wasn’t until Fitzgerald found a mentor in high school who encouraged her passion for computer science that she felt she could seriously pursue the degree.
“I was the only girl in my (science and math) classes in high school and that’s always kind of awkward,” she said.
Women largely remain underrepresented in many science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. However, the numbers are often lowest in engineering, according to the National Girls Collaborative Project.
In high school, young women begin to opt out of advanced courses like computer science and engineering, the project reports.
“You don’t generally want to go against the norms when you’re that young and still learning how to be yourself,” Fitzgerald said. “But, that was (computer science for) me.”
Patricia Colberg, chair of the UI civil and environmental engineering department, said the disparity between females and males in engineering often starts with enrollment.
“In the short time I’ve been at UI, the top seniors in our program have been women for each of the last two years,” Colberg said.
While enrollment of female engineering students in the United States averages 21 percent of all engineering majors, Colberg said UI averages around 18 percent female students.
“This number has been flat for some time now,” Colberg said. “That said, at UI, both retention rates and graduation rates by women students are consistently better than for their male peers.”
In 2015, females comprised 10 percent of the State of Idaho’s 534 engineering degrees awarded, according to the national organization Society of Women Engineers.
In UI’s College of Engineering, the numbers are similar to national statistics. Of the college’s 1,369 undergraduate students, 250 students are female.
When electrical engineering student Allison Ellingson chose her major, she was told to pick big.
Ellingson said her five aunts — all with engineering degrees — gave her this advice.
“Ultimately, they told me to pick the hardest thing I could possibly do and anything after that will automatically be easier,” Ellingson said.
The fourth-year UI student plans to use her engineering degree to enter the neuroscience field after graduating this spring.
“The signals in our brains are basically electrical signals. People with biology backgrounds don’t always get that research early in their career,” Ellingson said. “So, I’m working backward. I’m starting with the hardest part and making everything else easier.”
However, she said her education does not come without the various hurdles many women in her study face.
“Women are raised and socialized to be perfect and men are often raised to be brave,” Ellingson said.
For women, anything less than perfect can feel like a failure, she said. But she knows failure is a large component of learning in any engineering field.
“The biggest thing that makes a good female engineer is being brave,” Ellingson said. “You don’t have to do them right, you can do things poorly the first time or fail and try again. You’ll still be a better engineer for it because of the qualities you possess already.”
Often, Ellingson said, her male counterparts do not outwardly see the sexism women might encounter.
“Even though the men in your field are on your side, they still don’t know what you might be experiencing as a woman,” Ellingson said. “You have to be proactive about it for yourself.”
Catherine Feistner, a UI fifth-year civil engineering student, said she has been fortunate to study in the department with the most females.
“Civil engineers encounter the most females in their work. I’ve found a pretty friendly environment here,” Feistner said. “But there are always things we could be doing to change the ideas many people have about women in engineering.”
Although both Feistner and Colberg said it is more common to find male exclusivity in the workplace, the two have recognized the imbalance in the classroom.
“What I hear more commonly from my women students is about well-meaning attempts by faculty to be ‘more inclusive,’ although it often backfires because they try too hard,” Colberg said
Feistner said she has felt overlooked or removed from conversations in classes. But through dialogue and an openness to changing the environment, she has found ways to overcome the implicit bias women face.
“There are so many social things that are involved with these challenges,” Feistner said. “Talking about these issues can make a big issue become a little bit smaller one step at a time.”
Bethany Kersten, a fourth-year chemical engineering student and president of the Society of Women Engineers UI chapter, has always been accustomed to a five to 20 female to male ratio in her classes — a constant in class and the workplace.
However, it is her relationship with advisers and professors that has helped her form a more robust engineering community, she said.
“Although it is true that classes may not have equal numbers of males and females, your education is yours,” Kersten said. “Do not let the statistics hold you back. If you are passionate about a field, do not let anyone try to dissuade you from it.”
While males and females in engineering fields face differing obstacles, Ellingson said all strong engineers possess the similar qualities.
“Strong engineers are good at problem solving, they don’t shy away from challenges. If something is really hard, you are intrigued by it — you don’t want to quit,” Ellingson said.
According to the Society of Women Engineers national organization, the number of women in various STEM-related careers has increased in the past 20 years. However, the number of women in engineering in the U.S. has not grown since the early-2000s.
“The world desperately needs more engineers, and the largest untapped pool of talent for engineering and computer science careers is women,” Colberg said.
For Colberg, this means engaging more women in engineering at an early age and recruiting them into the many fields the industry offers.
Fitzgerald hopes young girls who tinker with computers and love creating projects out of ones and zeros know their passion is important.
“It’s my superpower. It is something that is unique about me and something that you don’t always come across,” Fitzgerald said. “My ability to jump those hurdles and feel confident in these traits that we so often think are for males makes me proud to be an engineering student.”