21% of members of the engineers’ order of Beirut are women and 27% in Tripoli

According to As Safir’s issue of today, 28% of all working women occupy specialized professions (doctors, teachers, engineers,…) compared to only 8% of working men.  In addition, and according to data of the Central Administration of Statistics in 2009, women constitute 21% of the total membership of the engineers’ order in Beirut compared to 27% for the order in Tripoli.  The newspaper adds that although women’s share is rather low, yet, women engineers are constantly proving that women are able to attain professional success and reach high social and economic position while sometimes surpassing men.  Engineer Laila Awad noted that women have special skills and are able to effectively run their work and is able to deal with obstacles and challenges in a “cool way”, unlike men who tend to lose their temper.  Nabila, an agronomist, notes that women are patient and this reflects positively on their work and daily life and can be more resilient than men.  Jeanne D’arc, a computer engineer, noted that patriarchal mindsets which used to exclude women have slowly rescinded during the past few years mostly because women have proven themselves and their rights to have equal income and good positions as men. Regarding obstacles faced by women engineers, the newspaper noted the case of Samya, a civil engineer, who had to leave work after she had her first child as she was unable to continue working normally.

 

(Source: As-Safir 22 January, 2015)