There is one last, uncomfortable issue to address when it comes to professionalism and the workplace. It is important to address that despite significant progress towards eliminating racial, gender, and other types of discrimination, they are real and persistent in our society. It is unfortunate and frankly embarrassing to admit, but in the United States, white men currently have significant advantages over racial minorities and women. That does not mean that racial minorities or women should give up! If you are Black, Hispanic, or a women, you are in the right place. If you do not identify as any of these demographics, you are also in the right place. Please keep up the hard work and seek the help and resources you need to be successful! We need you to be a role model for future students that look and sound like you.
Although it is uncomfortable and patently unfair, I think it would be foolish and actually detrimental to ignore the realities. Instead, we need to educate ourselves about the problems and actively work to address these problems. The demographic makeup of our workplace should reflect the racial and gender makeup of our society but that is currently not true. In fact, engineering is one of the worst offenders. According to a study by the PEW Research Center, 73% of United States engineers are white, 12% are Asian, but only 5% are black and only 8% are Hispanic. Furthermore, the statistics on gender are equally as bad. The Society of Women Engineers states that only 13% of engineers are female! These disparities are unacceptable and need to be addressed.
For this ethics prompt, I would like you to discuss ways in which you believe would be beneficial to get more women and underrepresented minorities into engineering. I do not want this to be a debate about diversity in the workplace (numerous studies have shown it to be advantageous and I do not consider this up for debate) but instead, I would like you to concentrate on potential social policies or other strategies you can think of to encourage more women and underrepresented minorities to seek out engineering. If you are from an underrepresented population and would like to share personal anecdotes about why you are studying engineering or obstacles that you had to overcome that you wish were eliminated that would be wonderful to hear but is not required.
Note: There are many more ways to cross section humanity besides gender and race, including by sexuality, religious creed, parent education level, socioeconomic status, and more. Gender and race demographics represent two of the more visually presenting demographic subsets and is discussed here as an example of how to be more inclusive in the workplace.
Optional: If you identify with one of the underrepresented populations listed, please feel free to share any anecdotes or reasons why you chose to pursue engineering.
