The Workplace: A woman engineer was told, “Just stay in the shed”

by Anonymous

I am a B.Tech civil engineering graduate and I am losing sleep over not getting any job in my domain. My college offered me jobs during placements but they are either BPOs (Business Process Outsourcing firms) or information technology companies but not a single one in my domain.

I graduated in 2018 and every passing day, it is getting more and more stressful for me. I lost one year because of an accident and that is stressing me out even more. My father will retire in January 2020, my sister is in college and I still haven’t landed a job. I have got job offers for back office and BPOs but I don’t want to do any of that. I want a full-fledged civil engineering job.

No place for women

We had to do one internship during college. I was placed with an organisation which was responsible for making a flyover. I repeatedly asked them to show me how the work was being done but they discriminated against me for being a girl. On the one hand, everyone says all are equal but during the search for jobs and training in this domain, most women students and applicants are discriminated against.

When I was supposed to go to the construction site, they would say things like, “You just stay in the shed, no need to go outside or climb stairs to look after the ongoing work. Your friends will brief you later on.” Things like this happen a lot and they harm your career.

Once, when I went to a company for an interview, they asked me to join their IT department instead of the construction department because I am a woman. The man who met me did not even take my interview. How could he decide whether I am competent or not?

People around me also demotivate me by saying that I should join a college to teach as I am a woman or be a banker. This problem is not only with me. My women friends from other branches of engineering – mechanical and electrical engineering – have also had similar experiences.

Studied on a loan

After completing my programme, I have completed courses in architectural and interior design programmes and based on that, I am also applying for draughtsman posts. Even then, I have not received any response from any industry. I have studied on a student loan and just thinking about it is haunting me and I have nowhere to go as I cannot place my parents under further financial strain.

The author is a job seeker and requested that her name be withheld. All contributions to the The Workplace are checked for authenticity and their authors are known to Careers360.

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