Women outnumber men in engineering

NED VC says there was no gender bias in the educational institutions

KARACHI:

The trend of studying engineering among female students is on the rise in Karachi. Though there is no data regarding whether graduating women engineers are working in their relevant fields, the statistics of NED University of Engineering and Technology revealed that for the first time in the last five years the number of female students has reached 1,000.

In this year 2022 also, 70 percent of position holders in engineering departments are female students, as per NED's results. NED Vice Chancellor Dr Sarosh Hashmat Lodi while talking to The Express Tribune said that there was no gender bias in the educational institutions and it was quite possible that women will have a monopoly in the engineering sector in the future.

Dr Lodi said eliminating gender discrimination and empowering women in the economy is central to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. For centuries, women had played a pivotal role as designers and builders of essential structures and machines, even before the term 'engineer' was coined in the 11th century.

However, in later centuries fields like engineering were mostly closed to women. In the modern era, Dr Lodi said, women are showing more inclination toward engineering. According to the current year data of NED, the number of female students in electronic engineering, textile engineering, telecommunication, and management sciences is more than male students.