Women in Electrical Engineering

I am one of the few and the proud. So few female electrical engineers in the world, it is a shame! It is such a fun profession. The few of us who are already here could sure use more colleagues, too.

I am not really sure what turns off women from electrical engineering... is it conceptual, or perceptual? Do they just not understand the technical concepts of EE, or do they perceive that the profession is male dominant? Hello girls, you will have your choice of men! Granted they'll most likely be geeks, but I tend to think EE's are more well-rounded than programmers. Good pickin's. But seriously, it has not been difficult for me at all, being the sole female EE in an environment with W to M ratio of 1:80. It has been fun. I hardly sense any sort of discrimination-- it basically comes down to, are you a good engineer or not. Pretty straight forward. In addition, women tend to have better social skills, and are good mediators in meetings. This has been confirmed by many of my co-workers, both men and women.

I think the part that I have most enjoyed is the problem solving. It is so fulfilling to find the root cause of a difficult problem, as well as seeing the fruition of a product you've been working on for months, sometimes years. And the work is so quantifiable. I let my work do the talking-- I don't need to 'fluff' things or schmooze my way through people.

Anyway, I feel like I'm a pioneer sometimes, being one of the few women in the field. One of the disadvantages of this is that I have no one to look up to. Oddly, most of the female engineers are all around my age-- primarily in their late 20's or 30's. I cannot think of one female EE who is in their 40's and beyond, while there are many male engineers who are such. Perhaps we are still pioneers in this field. And I may be at a point in my life where I am starting to see why...

Motherhood. EE being such a hardware oriented career, it is almost impossible to "work from home" or "telecommute". You are stuck in the lab or at your desk with high-tech equipment that costs thousands of dollars. No way will you have these kinds of equipment stocked up in your garage. You need the development systems, and the boards, and all the hardware that goes with it. Logically speaking, I can't see how you could balance motherhood and career without sacrificing one or the other.

I am 14 weeks pregnant, and am torn between taking time off from my career and continuing my job. I am naturally a homebody and I totally don't mind being a housewife and stay at home mom, but I am also very sad to have to put my career on hold. You just can't compare the two on same levels.
Career: Will I be able to come back after a year or two?
Motherhood: I can't see myself working 40 hours a week and not being able to see my newborn.
Career: Opportunities are knocking, and I have to kick them down.
Motherhood: Want to spend as much time as I can with my baby, it's the most important time of development.
Career: Would certainly make us more financially comfortable with two incomes.
Motherhood: How do you put a monetary value on spending time with your baby?

What do you do?!