Currently the number of female engineers is on the rise but is still not equal to the number of males in the field. The goal for many companies is to reduce the idea that women cannot be successful in the engineering field by increasing the confidence and even salary of women in engineering. Majoring in engineering myself, I find that it is important to know the reasons behind the low self esteem of women and their reasoning for feeling as if they cannot be as successful as men in the field. My father is a civil engineer and he has experienced first hand accounts of women engineers in interviews and and while working with them directly. By researching this topic, I feel as if my knowledge behind women engineers will expand and help further my success by knowing what to expect. With the connections I have made through my father's mutual friends and coworkers, I feel as if the hands on experience I have talking to the men in the field, it has helped open my eyes as to what goes on in the male's perspective. The research done online for this project will mostly be from a female's perspective seeing that I personally have not come in contact with a female engineer due to their scarcity. 

In the first article written by Anne Rosenwald, "Women on the Verge of a Glass-ceiling Breakdown," the idea as to why women are undermined in the world of science is discussed. Her main point is concluded in the idea that women are trying to gain a foothold in the fields of science and engineering. Once this is accomplished, then the idea of inequality will diminish. Her main point was that based off her first hand experience in the field is that women are undermined in their ability to become a mother but also earning and succeeding in the field with a higher education degree. Her overall goal was to inform others of the undermining that takes place in the science and engineering fields today. Her points however could be skewed based on the fact that the article is written in her opinion on her account of the misrepresentation of women. She is a woman and based off of experience she could skew evidence in order to claim her point that women are undermined in the field. 

"Redesigning Science: Recent Scholarship on Cultural Change, Gender, and Diversity," written by Jolene Jesse is based off the idea that education is the root of the problem for many women. Jesse states that women's education is different compared to men. It is automatically assumed that when women don't understand something in the field it is solely based off the idea that they may not be as smart as men in the math and science fields. She bases his point on research that states that both women and men are completely capable of doing the same things just in a different way. Jesse also uses the data to show that women choose to drop out of graduate engineering programs at a higher rate than men based off the fact that women seem to be less credible compared to men in the field. The article is based mostly off of facts and I feel as if the opinion of Jolene is showed through evidence instead of just stating her opinion. Jolene could be credible based off of the fact that she backed up her opinion with facts. 

The source written by Jay McSherry titled, "The Gender Divide." In this article the underrepresentation of women is very present. McSherry uses statistics conducted by surveys to receive the views and opinions of both men and women in the engineering field. His main bases for research is through the IEEE Women in Engineering group which is a professional organization that promotes women engineers and scientists. His interview results found that women feel harassed and loose confidence in their ability which allows men to surpass them in the field. Jay McSherry provides market research for a living which I feel makes him credible on the topic. He has held many market positions in well known companies. The sources could only be biased based off of the questions asked by the interviewer. Otherwise, the information gathered is from both men and women engineers working on achieving success. 

I feel as if the research question is arguable due to the fact that inequality in the engineering field is something that many women face. Being a female I think it is important for me be knowledgeable about the situation before deciding on which career path to take. Many may argue that the reason there is so few female engineers is due to the fact that women undermine themselves and that their confidence levels is what affects their success directly. Engineering, being a time consuming career, conflicts with the ideal lifestyle of a woman. Many wish to settle down and have a family instead of keeping up with the fast pace and busy lifestyle of an engineer. My research question could possibly be redefined by adding personal interviews from men and their opinions of gender inequality. More specifically, facts showing that men do not agree that gender inequality is present in the field of engineering. I could also end up changing my view points based off of the research I complete. 

