I think engineering is over glorified. Maybe the glory was deserved back then, but the situation is definitely different right now. Only take that path if you are passionate about it, not because of the assumed financial rewards.
There are so many initiatives that encourage women to pursue STEM (hold me back so I don't mention names, haha) and after graduation, they are thrown to the wolves.
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The very women who were convinced try to apply for the limited engineering jobs available, which is quite frankly akin to looking for a needle in a haystack (how is this even possible with all the infrastructure development projects currently in our country?). With no success, an attempt at trying out a different direction in life leads you to testing the waters for jobs in other non engineering sectors and you can't get past the door because you are 'over qualified' ('over qualification' is a story for another day). You question your decision to study engineering. At least a Bachelor of Arts degree is more variable and less strenuous. In the end, you are left with your engineering degree in one hand and unskilled labor in the other because a girl's gotta eat. This is painful. The soul splitting, gut clenching kind of pain.
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I think Women in STEM organizations should be more involved in the women's academic and professional lives right from school to graduation to guiding them until they can fly on their own so that the cycle of mentorship can continue, leading to more women in the industry. Let's face it, a woman can make one heck of an engineer. Refer to this post https://shezpam94.wixsite.com/website/post/women-in-engineering. I love it when I see women thriving, no one left behind.
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