Introduction This section reports the results of the interviews conducted on six women that have successfully achieved leadership positions in the engineering arena. By sharing their stories and offering advice to women that wish to pursue a similar career path, it is anticipated that this study will add to data previously collected in this area. Many of their stories spoke of the difficulties they have faced, but also of the pride they have experienced through their accomplishments.
Results of Literature Review The literature review demonstrated that, although some progress has been made, the success of women moving into leadership positions in the male dominated engineering field remains limited. There were several themes that address …show more content…
These reasons include the lack of women in leadership positions to serve as mentors, the hesitation of a male leader to mentor a female protégé, and the differences in the way mentoring is accomplished for women versus men. The lack of the presence of a successful female leader to emulate and receive mentoring from impedes the path of those who choose to peruse a leadership role. As stated by Chesler & Chesler (2002), leadership begins with a vision of oneself as a leader. One must first be able to envision them as a leader and believe in their ability to succeed, in order to develop into a leader. This becomes much more difficult if there is no one to base this idea on (Kolb, 1999). As for men mentoring female colleagues, perception can be an obstacle. Men, especially married men, may have concerns as to how the mentoring relationship might be perceived by others. Men tend to be cautious when mentoring female colleagues to avoid the perception of impropriety (Bennett, 2002). Finally, men approach mentoring as more of a personal relationship, finding someone that they see something of themselves in. They spend time at work, as well as, away from work together, it is a much more informal relationship. Women tend to have very formal mentoring relationships when they …show more content…
A person that chooses to climb the corporate ladder knows that they must commit many long hours to this pursuit, while it is acceptable for a man to depend on his wife to care for the family and raise the children, this is not typically acceptable behavior for women. When a man refers to “having it all” it usually means he has reached the top of his career, has a nice home, and a supporting wife that cares for the family. A woman that “has it all” refers to reaching the top of her career while taking care of a home and family. This may explain why Hewlett (2002) found that forty-two percent of women in the forty-one to fifty-five year old age group, with successful careers in corporate America are
Results of Literature Review The literature review demonstrated that, although some progress has been made, the success of women moving into leadership positions in the male dominated engineering field remains limited. There were several themes that address …show more content…
These reasons include the lack of women in leadership positions to serve as mentors, the hesitation of a male leader to mentor a female protégé, and the differences in the way mentoring is accomplished for women versus men. The lack of the presence of a successful female leader to emulate and receive mentoring from impedes the path of those who choose to peruse a leadership role. As stated by Chesler & Chesler (2002), leadership begins with a vision of oneself as a leader. One must first be able to envision them as a leader and believe in their ability to succeed, in order to develop into a leader. This becomes much more difficult if there is no one to base this idea on (Kolb, 1999). As for men mentoring female colleagues, perception can be an obstacle. Men, especially married men, may have concerns as to how the mentoring relationship might be perceived by others. Men tend to be cautious when mentoring female colleagues to avoid the perception of impropriety (Bennett, 2002). Finally, men approach mentoring as more of a personal relationship, finding someone that they see something of themselves in. They spend time at work, as well as, away from work together, it is a much more informal relationship. Women tend to have very formal mentoring relationships when they …show more content…
A person that chooses to climb the corporate ladder knows that they must commit many long hours to this pursuit, while it is acceptable for a man to depend on his wife to care for the family and raise the children, this is not typically acceptable behavior for women. When a man refers to “having it all” it usually means he has reached the top of his career, has a nice home, and a supporting wife that cares for the family. A woman that “has it all” refers to reaching the top of her career while taking care of a home and family. This may explain why Hewlett (2002) found that forty-two percent of women in the forty-one to fifty-five year old age group, with successful careers in corporate America are