姑娘们，别躲着工程学

    我们对美国下一代的女性究竟抱有什么样的期望？谢丽尔•桑德博格认为，我们的期望并不高。“我们并不打算让女孩们有像男孩一般的野心。” 几周前，这位Facebook首席运营官在达沃斯世界经济论坛（World Economic Forum）说。“上个月，【金宝贝（Gymboree，世界著名早教品牌——译注）】销售了一批T恤，男孩T恤上印着‘像父亲一样聪明’，女孩则印着‘像母亲一样美丽’。这事不是发生在1951年！而是就在上个月。”

    为了打破这些根深蒂固的观念，美国工程师周基金会（National Engineer Week Foundation）发起了一项活动，将2月23日定为“向女孩介绍工程师”活动日，旨在向她们展示未来的工程师之路。为什么是女孩而不是妇女？英特尔（Intel）资深组件设计工程师兼技术经理艾琳•韦克菲尔德认为，我们必须要让女孩们在中学阶段就开始对工程产生兴趣。“如果她们不能在少年时期就萌生对工程的兴趣，等她们长大就来不及了。”

    平心而论，与过去相比，现在越来越多的女性正在涉足工程技术领域。根据劳动统计局（the Bureau of Labor Statistics）的数字，1983年，美国女性工程师的比例仅为5.8%。时光飞逝，26年之后，即2006年，这一比例已经上升至10.7%。到了2009年，计算机软件工程师和化学工程师中的女性比例分别达到20.2%和18.4%，而在技术经理和机械工程师中的这一比例也达到了8.1%和5.9%。所以我们确实取得了一些进展，但这些还不够。现在的问题是，为什么女性将从事工程技术工作视为“灾难”？（要知道，在一项“睡眠最充足职业”的调查中，工程师一职赫然上榜。）

    英特尔基金会（the Intel Foundation）常务董事温迪•霍金斯的看法和和韦克菲尔德一样，她也认为问题的关键在于，让这些女孩在成长的适当阶段产生兴趣。“中学阶段是关键的决策形成期。孩子们接受了足够的教育，终于可以自己决定课程规划。令人兴奋、有吸引力的工作会吸引他们。”

    为了推动面向年轻女性的工程教育，同时提高她们对工程领域的认识，英特尔已经与多家机构展开了合作，包括半导体研究公司（SRC）的“本科生研究机会项目”（Undergraduate Research Opportunities）和“工程基础项目”（Engineering is Elementary），以及女性工程师协会（Society of Women Engineers）等组织。英特尔基金同时还启动了“英特尔科学天才研究项目”（Intel Science Talent Research），这是一项面向大学学前阶段的科技竞赛。（2011年的亚军是年仅17岁的米歇尔•哈克曼。）但霍金斯坦承目前的努力仍然不够。她说：“总体而言，目前对女性和工程学的关注很多。不过我们很难长期投资、维持某个项目，最终达到扭转观念的目的。”按照霍金斯的说法，在英特尔基金的投资中，仅有20%最终用于培养女学生和少数族裔学生对工程的兴趣。

    现在是不是该轮到各大公司挺身而出了？霍金斯称：“高新科技领域的绝大部分公司都很重视这件事。这是他们永恒的话题。”不过霍金斯好像认为这些努力有些偏离了方向。“我们必须关注女孩，关注年轻女性。我们必须要让更多的年轻女性去接触工程领域的成年人。这真是她们想要的全部生活吗？（女孩）需要更多的机会去创造、设计和制作一些东西。”

    对于韦克菲尔德而言，就是这样的结合，才让她产生了对工程的兴趣。前辈们的榜样示范作用在韦克菲尔德形成职业规划时起到了关键作用，尤其是在她小时候。她说：“我父亲是计算机工程师。他是个技术狂人。和他在一起，我觉得自己从事计算机领域的工作完全是自然而然的事。我表姐史黛西比我大15岁，是位机械工程师。我认为她是一位迷人的职业女性，她收入很高，经常去旅行而且打扮得也很漂亮。”

    What do we expect from our next generation of American women? Not a whole lot, says Sheryl Sandberg. "We don't raise our daughters to be as ambitious as our sons," the Facebook COO said several weeks ago at the World Economic Forum. "Last month, there were t-shirts sold [at Gymboree] that said 'Smart like Daddy' for the boys and 'Pretty like Mommy.' Not in 1951. Last month."

    In an effort to tackle some of these ingrained assumptions, today marks Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day, an initiative launched by the National Engineer Week Foundation, which aims to promote this career path to young women. Why girls rather than women? Erin Wakefield, a senior component design engineer and engineering manager at Intel (INTC), believes we've got to get girls interested at the middle school level. "When they don't get interested in engineering at a young age, it's almost too late."

    To be fair, more women are entering the engineering world today than in years past. In 1983, only 5.8% of engineers in the U.S. were women, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Fast-forward 26 years to 2006, and 10.7% of engineers were women. And women made up 20.2% of computer software engineers, 18.4% of chemical engineers, 8.1% of engineering managers, and just 5.9% of mechanical engineers as of 2009. So we've made progress, but not much. So, then, why are women treating engineering like it's the Plague (especially when it's one of the most well-rested professions around)?

    Much like Wakefield, Wendy Hawkins, executive director at the Intel Foundation, thinks it comes down to making an appeal to girls at the right time in their lives. "Middle school is a crucial decision-making time. Kids finally have the education to make their own class schedule choices, and exciting and engaging work appeals tothem."

    Intel has teamed up with programs like the SRC Undergraduate Research Opportunities (SRC-URO) and Engineering is Elementary (EIE), as well as networks like the Society of Women Engineers to promote engineering education and awareness among young women. The Intel Foundation also created the Intel Science Talent Research, a pre-college science competition. (The 2011 runner-up was 17-year old Michelle Hackman.) But Hawkins admits these efforts are modest. "Overall, there's a lot of attention toward women and engineering. But it's difficult to invest and maintain a program long enough to bring about change," she says. Just 20% of the Intel Foundation's investments are reserved for fostering engagement in women and minority students, according to Hawkins.

    Is it time for companies to step up? "Most companies in the high-tech industry have efforts focused in this direction; it's a constant topic of conversation," says Hawkins. But she seems to think the focus is off. "We need to focus on girls, on young people. We need to put more young women in contact with adults in engineering. Is this the life, the whole package that they want? [Girls] need more opportunities to create, design, to make something."

    For Wakefield, it was just that combination that got her interested in engineering. Role models played a major role in shaping her career path,especially at a young age. "My dad worked in computer science. He was a tech dork. With him, it was never weird that I was a girl working on computer things," she says. "And my cousin Stacy was about 15-years older than me. She was a mechanical engineer, and I saw her as glamorous corporate woman, often traveling to cool places with lots of money and she always dressed nice."