scilence S2: 78 Railway Engineering & REPRESENTING THE FEW

My railway engineer knew she wanted to go into STEM from an early age, which meant she should follow a career in medicine.  But she fell into engineering by accident instead, which was actually better suited for her.  She first realised that she was not easily accepted in engineering, when it was assumed that she was the secretary when at a conference. 

Standing up for your rights requires you to have a keen sense of who you are and my guest now enjoys challenging the stereotypes with her womanliness and big afro hair.  Having felt a lot of academic pressure.  She looks back and wishes she could have done an apprenticeship.  Pressure and bullying made her drop out of school, which made her rethink her priorities.  Onto of those anxieties, she was also caring for her disabled mother and all of this hardship taught her a lot about struggle and failure.  She now has a good relationship with this things now. The net result is that she now takes full ownership of her life and is happy that she can represent the under represented. 

She has a few mentors for the professional and emotional aspects of her life and highlights that many men have mentors too - its not just a female requirement.  She has learned to have boundaries, which she exercises when at her ‘beer appreciation group’ - which she started herself in order to bond with the guys.  Self-acceptance is at the root of her empowerment.  It took her a while to develop that.  We talk about her romantic relationship and her worry in having kids and how that will affect her career.   But, she’s lucky because her partner is very supportive of having children and being a stay at home dad. 

My guest believes that we should be empowering men to stay at home without being laughed at.  She hopes that we are getting to a point where men can just be themselves. Let men pursue what they really want when it comes to families and let men bond with their kids, is a good way to go in the future.