Women on the rise: Female engineer at ROHM Semiconductor in Germany
03/08/2018
“I am considered as an engineer not a woman engineer”
Caption: Souha Hassine is one of the women increasing the percentage of female engineers at ROHM Semiconductor in Willich/Germany.
Not too many years ago, there were practically no women in engineering. Luckily things have changed and today we see an increasing number of women working in technical jobs. But there is still a long way to go and equality is not just shown by numbers.
According to the Association of German Engineers VDI, more than 24% of engineering students starting in the winter semester 2016/2017 in Germany were women. That’s a good increase, in 2010/2011 the share of women was just under 20 %. The situation is similar in other western countries: For example, in Canada and in the USA 19 % of engineering graduates are women. The UK is at the bottom of the list with below 10 %.
However, the percentage of women in the engineering workforce is still lower than in academics. According to a study, again initiated by the VDI, 17 % of engineers working in Germany in 2017 were women. How much the gender situation in engineering has changed can be seen in the USA. Whereas today 13 % of engineers are women, in the early 1980s their share was just 5.8%!
The missing role models
But no matter how much the share of women has increased, there is still a long way to go. Many factors keep women away from engineering jobs: prejudices from society and especially from mentors and supervisors, influences in early childhood, the implicit expectation to do double-duty in family and work, and so on
One important factor is the lack of female role models. To get more women to choose a technical career, they need to see more successful women in the field. Of course, there are successful women in engineering, but too many of them stay hidden. But that can easily be changed.
Souha Hassine, analog IC designer
Take, for example, Souha Hassine: She is working as an analog IC designer at ROHM Semiconductor in Willich/Germany. Souha studied at the Montpellier Laboratory of Computer Science, Robotics, and Microelectronics (LIRMM) in France and finished with a PhD. She was working as an analog designer at Invia (Meyreuil, France), a semiconductor design house focused on embedded security, before she started her present job at ROHM.
Last year, Souha was interviewed by EETimes for their “Women in Tech”-Special. There she talked about the challenges she had to face until she got accepted by her mostly male coworkers. To be taken seriously in meetings or in technical discussions she had to speak up and confidently present her knowhow. “I felt that I always had to work twice as hard in order to overcome prejudices”, said Souha.
Today, at ROHM, things have changed. As Souha puts it: “In the team, I am considered as an engineer not a woman engineer.”
ROHM as an employer
Souha Hassine is one of currently 200 employees working at the eight sites of ROHM in Europe. The number of employees has grown by 30 % within the last five years. With 42% being younger than 40 years and 9% being younger than 30 years, ROHM is a very young company. This is truly an advantage when one is planning to increase the number of women in engineering.
When Souha chose ROHM, she was looking for a new challenging experience. Apart from the technical challenge, Souha was interested in the cultural aspect of working in a Japanese company in Germany.
Never give up
Souha was always curious about how things worked. The fascination for technology combined with the mindset that everything is possible as long as you want it helped her reach her goals. “I think that the interest in technology should be stimulated in girls from an early age”, Souha said. Furthermore, she believes, that traditional gender roles need to be broken by treating men and women equally on the work floor. Someone’s worth should be measured by her/his ability and skills and not by gender.
Souha has some advice for other women who want to start a career in engineering: “It will be most probably hard to be trusted at the beginning. It will also be hard to find the perfect balance between personal life and career. But women should never give up!”