"Some women choose to follow a man and some others their dreams. In case that you wonder which way to follow, remember that your career won't wake up one morning to say that he doesn't love you."
I asked if she has even given math and science a decent shot. I told her that she could study anything and become a teacher. I tried to describe that engineers contribute to society in positive way. I also told her that not knowing how to do something the first time doesn't mean she isn't smart, and being smart is more about working hard than anything else. She wouldn't have any of it, and I felt like I failed in a small way.
Later upon reflection, I realized how selfish it is to not become an engineer. Anyone who isn't an engineer takes advantage of all the technology we have today. Humans made the big mistake at the beginning of civilization of changing the world around them, and now we have to keep on advancing and adapting until we can find equilibrium again. If she decides not to create, and it takes a lot of engineering to create something that hasn't existed before in these times, she isn't contributing to the future of humans.
Sure you can say that society needs teachers as much as it needs engineers. I'm talking a numbers game here. If as many people wanted to be engineers as teachers, then the pay scale would even out and we could value them equally. There would be higher quality teachers and a greater amount of workers in the technology fields. If we are conditioning half of all people that they aren't fit to be engineers, then we are excluding an untapped workforce. There is a slight majority of women on college campuses, and with the predilection towards women in the humanities fields, it means that a majority of people on college campuses are already biased against STEM Fields
it saddens me that I couldn't even change one young woman's mind.