Why Engineering Matters for Women

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In the United States and around the world, there are far more technology-oriented jobs than candidates to fill them. According to the National Math + Science Initiative (NMSI), jobs in U.S are projected to grow 45 percent between 2008 -2018 in computer systems design and related services, a math intensive field. NMSI reports that men over age 25 held 87 percent of bachelor’s degrees in engineering fields. Only 23 percent of workers in STEM-related jobs are women, yet women make up 48 percent of workers in all occupations. Studying these subjects in the classroom can be just as isolating to young girls as employing them in the workplace. There is an outdated belief that girls are not as good at science and math subjects as boys. But according to the report Generation STEM, high school girls earn more math and science credits than boys do, and their GPAs, aggregated across math and science classes, are higher than boys. Still, these stereotypes can hold girls back and question their abilities.
Call to action:  If you are using technology, why not create it?   A career in engineering is an excellent opportunity to do so.

Monique Morrow holds the title of CTO Cisco Services with a focus of developing strategic technology and business architectures for Cisco customers and partners. With over 13 +years at Cisco though Monique had been engaged with Cisco during the start up days in the mid-1980s. Under the Office of the CTO, as both individual contributor and manager she built a leadership team in Asia-Pacific, specifically China and India as an affirmation of Cisco’s globalization and country strategies. Monique has consistently demonstrated risk taking in exploring market opportunities for Cisco. Current focus areas include M2M Security; eHealth and machine learning algorithms.

In the United States and around the world, there are far more technology-oriented jobs than candidates to fill them. According to the National Math + Science Initiative (NMSI), jobs in U.S are projected to grow 45 percent between 2008 -2018 in computer systems design and related services, a math intensive field. NMSI reports that men over age 25 held 87 percent of bachelor’s degrees in engineering fields. Only 23 percent of workers in STEM-related jobs are women, yet women make up 48 percent of workers in all occupations. Studying these subjects in the classroom can be just as isolating to young girls as employing them in the workplace. There is an outdated belief that girls are not as good at science and math subjects as boys. But according to the report Generation STEM, high school girls earn more math and science credits than boys do, and their GPAs, aggregated across math and science classes, are higher than boys. Still, these stereotypes can hold girls back and question their abilities.

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