Discussion: View Thread

Harassment of Women in Science and Engineering

  • 1.  Harassment of Women in Science and Engineering

    Posted 05-02-2019 06:22 PM

    A report just came out titled "Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine" (2018) [1] Here are the summary pages you should read now: 

    • page 170.  Findings and Conclusions.
    • Page 180. Recommendations.
    • page 187. RECOMMENDATION 15"Make the entire academic community responsible for reducing and preventing sexual harassment.

     All members of our nation's college campuses-students, trainees, faculty, staff, and administrators-as well as members of research and training sites should assume responsibility for promoting civil and respectful education, training, and work environments, and stepping up and confronting those whose behaviors and actions create sexually harassing environments." 

     
    [1]Source: http://nap.edu/24994    downloaded 02MAY2019 

    It is time to stop explaining away our individual and collective past.
    Yesterday is gone for each and all of us.
    Together we have today and our tomorrows.
    Let us leverage them collaboratively and cooperatively.
    Replace fear with courage, turn on the lights to remove the shadows, and stand tall with one another.
    Yes, it is time for you, me, us to transition from empathy to proactive leadership.

    Civil engineers need to be leaders in putting a stop to those behaviors, out loud, and visibly!

    Please share your thoughts on the above report, and suggest specific actions individuals in private and public organizations and institutions can take to put a stop to the harassment of women in sciences and engineering.  

     



    ------------------------------
    William M. Hayden Jr., Ph.D., P.E., CMQ/OE, F.ASCE
    Buffalo, N.Y.

    "It is never too late to be what you might have been." -- George Eliot 1819 - 1880
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Harassment of Women in Science and Engineering

    Posted 05-06-2019 01:26 PM
    Edited by Tirza Austin 05-06-2019 01:25 PM
    University at Buffalo School of Engineering


    <g class="gr_ gr_18 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_disable_anim_appear Grammar only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="18" data-gr-id="18">Panel</g> discusses sexual harassment in academia[1]
    Three UB administrators fielded questions and offered advice on the issue at the Women in STEM Cooperative's annual summit on Wednesday.


    [1]http://www.buffalo.edu/ubnow/stories/2019/05/women-in-stem-summit.html?utm_source=2016+UB+Reporter%2C+University+at+Buffalo+List&utm_campaign=8bd11f48b9-UBNow_05_06_2019&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_af676811e4-8bd11f48b9-88028897  downloaded <g class="gr_ gr_19 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_disable_anim_appear Style multiReplace" id="19" data-gr-id="19">06MAY2019</g>

    ------------------------------
    William M. Hayden Jr., Ph.D., P.E., CMQ/OE, F.ASCE
    Buffalo, N.Y.

    "It is never too late to be what you might have been." -- George Eliot 1819 - 1880
    ------------------------------



  • 3.  RE: Harassment of Women in Science and Engineering

    Posted 05-09-2019 12:28 PM
    Edited by Tirza Austin 05-09-2019 12:28 PM
    I am saddened and disturbed that we haven't made more strides in this area. In reading the recommended pages, I found it interesting that Recommendation #10 (page 184) is to lean on professional societies (like ASCE)​ to help "create culture changes that reduce or prevent the recurrence of sexual harrassment."

    I am also very curious as to why there aren't more comments on this thread. We should never be too busy to condemn, call-out, and put a stop to unprofessional behavior the demeans someone because of their gender, race, or ethnicity. But, I also wonder if sometimes it's preferable to fool ourselves into thinking this is a thing of the past, it's not my problem (until it happens to you or someone you care about), or that this behavior is confined to other types of engineers/scientists, but not civil engineers. 

    Take this Harvard Business Review article, which indicates the rise of modern sexism in fields that advocate for a "pure meritocracy" (i.e. engineering). Here's an excerpt that is relevant here:

    This body of research also shows why advocating for a "pure meritocracy" - rather than explicitly pursuing diversity - doesn't help companies overcome bias. In fact, companies that highlight "meritocracy" may actually cause greater bias against women: Experimental studies show that when an organization is referred to as a meritocracy, individuals in managerial positions favor male employees over equally qualified female employees and give them larger rewards............ Calling for a meritocracy and denying that workplace inequality still exists captures what scientists refer to as modern sexism. Modern sexism is characterized by "beliefs that discrimination against women is a thing of the past, antagonism towards women who are making political and economic demands, and resentment about special favors for women. Notably, individuals espousing such views do not regard these notions as sexist or unfair and…conclude that, given the even playing field upon which the two sexes now compete, the continuing under-representation of women in certain roles (e.g., management positions…) must be a result of women's own choices or inferiority as opposed to discrimination."

     ------------------------------
    Stephanie Slocum P.E.,M.ASCE
    Founder
    Engineers Rising LLC
    www.engineersrising.com
    ------------------------------



  • 4.  RE: Harassment of Women in Science and Engineering

    Posted 05-13-2019 07:41 AM
    Edited by Tirza Austin 05-13-2019 07:40 AM
    In my 38 years Engineering career in Canada there was one sexual harassment case, and the offender wasn't an engineer. Early in my career in Canada, the senior accountant of our engineering firm tried to pressure a young receptionist for a date. She reported him to the president who fired him on the spot without even giving him a chance to defend himself. Everyone in the firm sympathized with her; no one even questioned the guilt of that man who was already considered of low character even before the incident.

    Other than that, there's none that I know of in my Engineering career in Canada. Perhaps, I'm blessed in working with decent people. I hope that's representative of Canadian Engineering firms.

    Prior to my immigration to Canada, there was one offender in one of the five Middle Eastern countries that I worked in. None in the other four countries.


    ------------------------------
    Neil Kazen, M.Eng., M.Sc., P.Eng.
    FASCE, FCPCI, FEC,
    Retired Structural Engineering Manager, Transportation Division, SNC-Lavalin
    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    ------------------------------



  • 5.  RE: Harassment of Women in Science and Engineering

    Posted 05-23-2019 08:05 AM
    The immediately prior post by retired Canadian Structural Engineering Manager Neil Kazen, M.Eng., M.Sc., P.Eng.,is recognized and appreciated. However, it might be better positioned in a series focused on sexual harassment that addresses the working environment outside of the one addressed by the noted NAS report and this conversation.
     
    Based on the referenced NAS report, your thoughts, opinions, and feedback are invited as to how best we might collaborate, cooperate and communicate within, and external to ASCE to immediately right those wrongs as clearly articulated within the NAS report.
     
    As Stephanie Slocum P.E., M. ASCE, Founder, Engineers Rising LLC, www.engineersrising.com, suggests in her previous comments above, on page 184, "Recommendation 10" of the report "Sexual Harassment of Women: in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine," we ought to be overtly encouraging the involvement of ASCE[1]and its Sister and Brother Professional Societies as well as other related organizations.
     
     


    [1]Committees, local sections, student sections, etc., etc., etc.

    ------------------------------
    William M. Hayden Jr., Ph.D., P.E., CMQ/OE, F.ASCE
    Buffalo, N.Y.

    "It is never too late to be what you might have been." -- George Eliot 1819 - 1880
    ------------------------------



  • 6.  RE: Harassment of Women in Science and Engineering

    Posted 05-24-2019 11:23 AM
    Edited by Tirza Austin 05-24-2019 11:22 AM
    It is acknowledged that this very subject, "Sexual Harassment," is not one civil <g class="gr_ gr_41 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_disable_anim_appear Grammar multiReplace" id="41" data-gr-id="41">engineers</g>
    nor most folks are comfortable speaking about out loud, in public.
     
    And yet, that is part of the background "Protection" the sexual predators reply on.
     
    So, in order to better prepare ourselves, let's realize, just as we did when we sat in on our first class in chemistry,
    indeterminate structural design, and advanced calculus:
     
                     The key to mastering the subject is first understanding
                               the clear meaning of a common vocabulary.
     
    The following references are made in each and every case to the NAS Report
    "Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Sciences,
    Engineering, and Medicine" (2018) [1]: http://nap.edu/24994    
     
    • Sexual Harassment Categories  p. 25
    • Legal Classifications  p. 26
    •  Definitions of Sexual Harassment   p. 28
    • Summary of Key Terms   p. 29
    • Public Consciousness of Sexual Harassment and Specific Sexually Harassing Behaviors  p. 32
    •  FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS   p. 48

     "A woman's strength should not be in her role, whatever she chooses to be, but in the power to choose that role." 
                                                                                                                    ― Brandon Sanderson, Words of Radiance


    ------------------------------
    William M. Hayden Jr., Ph.D., P.E., CMQ/OE, F.ASCE
    Buffalo, N.Y.

    "It is never too late to be what you might have been." -- George Eliot 1819 - 1880
    ------------------------------