Female Engineering Syndrome - When Females Think too Much of Themselves
31 Dec 2007 Quan Quach 21 comments 2,226 views
Photo by katietegtmeyer
After working at an engineering firm for the last three years, I have had the opportunity to observe firsthand what they call Female Engineer Syndrome, FES for short. Others may know it as Engineering Girl Syndrome. But all you really have to know is that it is not a pretty sight.
What exactly is FES? Let’s assume a standard scale of 1-10 (with 10 being the lovely Jessica Alba) is used to determine attractiveness. Then, FES occurs when a female engineer looks like a 6, acts like a 10, but thinks she’s a 12. How, you may ask, does this phenomenon occur? There are certainly some interesting theories on the matter, and I shall present my own personal theory below. Using an economics framework, the root cause of FES can be determined using the theory of supply and demand. It is a well known fact that when goods are scarce, their demand increases, which drives up their value. If we apply this to FES, we can see that due to the paucity of women in the engineering industry, their demand is greatly enhanced beyond normal capacity. Photo by Maxim Magazine
When a female engineer enters the workforce, she is most likely entering an environment wherein the ratio of men to women is 4:1. Maybe 3:1 if she is unlucky. It’s not too long (usually within seconds) before the male engineers start lavishing a ridiculous amount of attention upon the “new girl” as if she were singing the siren’s song. Consequently, the new found attention starts the process of inflating her self worth beyond any reasonable means. As time passes, the constant attention received from the male engineers continue to boost her self-esteem to unprecedented levels.
While some of the female engineers complain about the inordinate amount of attention they receive, I personally think they enjoy it oh so very much. Anyhow, the “new girl” now realizes that she is a hot commodity in the barren engineering dating market. With her new found confidence, the “new girl” starts believing that she is hot stuff, and subsequently, she starts to upgrade herself from a 6 to a 7. A week later, from a 7 to a 9. A month later, from a 9 to a 12. And this is not dress size we’re talking about here. But the “new girl” doesn’t want to come off as arrogant and conceited, so she tries to behave like a girl who is two notches lower than what she really believes she is. And since she now believes she is a 12 out of 10, she compensates for this by ONLY acting like a 10. Sheesh.
I guess its not the girl’s fault. If anything, we male engineers have no one to blame but ourselves for this. If you’re a female engineer reading this post, please do not be offended. Instead, visit CityChic’s blog (She’s a female engineer as well!) to pick up some fashion tips so you can be a 12 inside and outside of the engineering bubble. And if you’re a male engineer (or just a male in general) you should try visiting Gale’s Male Advice Column for a morale booster. You’ll learn about the dos and the donts when it comes to women and how to build your confidence.
Is this just an engineering phenomenon? Or does this happen in other industries as well? I’m guessing that it does. So please share your experiences!
21 Responses to “Female Engineering Syndrome - When Females Think too Much of Themselves”
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first and foremost - HAPPY NEW YEAR TURTIE! and i really appreciate you linking to me in your post. FES is definitely one of the funnier social phenomenons around, nice take on the subject
(fortunately, i have yet to encounter a female who thinks she’s a 12. well, there is ONE…) anyway, hope your 2008 is paved with many delights, both in and out of the blogosphere.
Nice theory, very true although not only in the engineering world, but prolly almost every work space there is.
O RRY?
There are female engineers who look like 6s?
Yes, I am amazed sometimes. 6s are like goddesses where I hail from!
What this story is missing, in my opinion, is a definition of ‘Engineering syndrome’.
In the context of this article its meaning is different from what I know it to mean, so things are a bit blurry. Either way, your points are valid, and in the long run they are a form of manifestation of said syndrome.
Hi, I’m a female engineer, I’m older and I understand what you fellows are saying.
I think the phenomenon you are describing applies in all fields. There are some bad girls and some nice girls who are engineers. The bad ones are always looking for trouble and the nice ones are usually conservative and don’t want to attract attention to themselves, they just want to do their work well. In engineering, it’s not like in medicine, for example. A lot of male and female doctors end up marrying each other. However, in engineering, often males and females don’t always find their soulmates, or it takes a long time. I have never or rarely seen many engineer female-male couples end up as soulmates. It’s something that’s hard to grasp. My advice is, we should all of us, engineers, male and female, be reading psychology books on relationships, like for instance, the Mars and Venus book or other books. That way, people can learn, especially female engineers, on how to be ‘normal’ in an environment, where like it or not, the male hormone levels are skyrocketed, at the workplace. This is difficult to handle if you’re a girl. It’s terrifying. The aggression, cumulatively, in one workplace, is terrifying.
Have patience and find your science/engineer soulmate, fellows. It’ll happen if you treat her like a human being, first and foremost. Also, we should encourage more girls to study engineering and science.:)
You know, girls don’t have it as easy as you would think. I am a female Physics student, and I don’t have many interests from guys I meet, and it’s not because I’m not attractive; my friends tell me that many are simply intimidated by me. But maybe I need to find an older man who already has a PhD to fix this! For both girls and guys though, it is so hard to meet people in the same field that fit all the other categories too, like religion, politics, common interests, etc. I found a website (scientificsingles.com) that is supposed to help people in the sciences to meet, but there aren’t very many on there.
Sorry to inform you but you failed to define what a “6″ even means. You cannot assume everyone thinks Jessica Alba is this so-called “10″. I suggest YOU are the one that needs to get over yourself, for not everyone thinks the way you do. Perhaps the females in engineering should be considered a ten for they have to put up with jerks like you on a daily bases, power to them. Have a nice day and, next time, try to make your argument more valid.
Jeremy
Ps. I hope you girls out there do not assume that every guy out there is a such a dick.
Jeremy,
I respect your comment. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Maybe if you’ve seen the things that I have seen you might change your mind.
Quan
this is a load of rubbish!!!! people like you give female engineers a bad name grow up for gods sake !
I’m in aerospace and I see this a lot, especially with new grads. In my company women are extremely scarce.
I’m a little older (32) but I look younger. So the first two months I was at my current job, I was pretty much on display. My supervisor said he hadn’t seen that much traffic in our department in 20 years. I was getting asked out at the coffee pot on a daily basis. I was fairly apathetic towards this, since most young male aerospace engineers at my company are socially dysfunctional and live in their parents’ basement. And I agree with a previous poster who said men are intimidated by intellectual women. The few normal people in scientific fields that I’ve dated bailed after finding out I had two masters degrees.
Anyway, there is a particularly annoying 22 year old female at my company who thinks she’s not only gorgeous but a genius as well. She dresses kind of like a hooker to get attention. At first men were salivating, but her arrogance turns them off.
I don’t want to agree with this post, but unfortunately what you are saying is accurate in my workplace. Maybe it’s different in other engineering fields…
Hi Claire,
I’m glad some women see it my way as well. Thanks for keeping it real
Quan
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Hahaha chill people! It’s obviously a joke (I’d have to agree though).
At my university, symptoms of FES may also include gold digging.
this is exactly the type of phenomenon present in Seattle, WA!! Low supply of women compared to men (all the tech companies out here). as a result women here think they are the bomb when they really aren’t!
Have to say I agree. I’m a female engineering student, and you see that sort of thing a lot on my course. Fortunately I’ve avoided getting stared at/ogled/asked out, since I dress, act, and talk like a guy, and most of the male engineers I associate with don’t seem to have registered that I’m female yet.
i’m assuming that you are one of the guys that the 6-out-of-10-acts-like-a-12 girls hasn’t given the time of day to…poor little boy. when you get into the real world, you will see there are women engineers who are 12’s…and you won’t even make it onto their rating scales.
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nicely put, but the assumption that females’ esteem should be a function of their beauty (as if that is the only thing they should be proud of or they stand for) is this shy of being offensive… i guess what im saying is that their self esteem should not necessarily be where their beauty is.
but i get the idea of them tryne act up coz of their environment… its obvious.