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To the girl who wants to be an engineer

I want you to know that your dreams are valid, your dreams are possible, your dreams are real and they are yours.



We still live in a society that's still male dominated in so many sectors, so it's easy for you to feel like you don't belong in engineering because there are just few girls in PCM or fewer in your college class, in mine we were 6 girls out of 120 + men, still we persevered.

You belong in the course just like anyone else. I want you to know and always remember that, in fact you are paving a way and setting an example and you are showing the girls that will come after you that it can be done. 

You belong in that class and in the job market after you are done with that course.

Be proactive, it is easy to sink in a class of only few girls, it is easy to not be seen, or raise your voice and hand in class, it is easy to be overlooked, overstepped, mocked and laughed at, sometimes by the same men that you study with, we are not there yet, but still be proactive. Do your work, study hard, act like you belong, because you do.

I remember the men in our class used to ask us to talk to our male lecturers for favors on behalf of our class just because we are women, I don't know about you but that doesn't sit right with me. If you want to be taken as an equal, don't use your sexuality to gain favors, work as equally hard as the rest do.

It is hard, and it is not because you are a woman, although period and ovulation pain add to it, it is hard because engineering is hard. Just like medicine, science is generally hard. But you will make it, you will graduate, you are passionate, you are strong, you are smart, you are born for this, born to leave a positive mark through engineering. So yes, you can do it, it is difficult but not impossible.

Being a girl is not your limitation, don't ever look at it as such. 

Being a girl is a gift, is a blessing, is an opportunity, it can be a good lens to see the world from..

Being a girl can get you to ask yourself interesting questions like, as an engineer and a girl, what opportunities do I see? What can I create for the world? for my fellow women? 

Being a girl who is an engineer is really an opportunity as they say it is. Grab it.



The last thing dear girl, be yourself, there's no one way to be an engineer.. no one way to be a girl. You can love engineering and have other interests, you don't have to fit in, what makes you different and unique is what is your superpower and what will enrich your life and impact the world. 

There's always a pressure to 'look like an engineer' or you get mocked for looking a certain way, or live a certain style that people don't perceive as a life for engineers, girl just do you. Be yourself, let go of society's pressure.

Eunice



^^^^^^Eunice's Bio : Eunice Tossy is a Tanzanian blogger, community worker and a Mechanical Engineer. You can find her on her blog here  and Instagram here

Read her post here

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