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Cultural stereotypes provide the biggest challenge for
women in engineering. From an early age a girl will learn
to do domestic work while her brother is allowed the freedom
to play and attend school. Attending school is not considered
important for a girl. According to Mrs. Salamata Fofana
Gakou, a young girl learns that she has duties to do,
while a boy has a right to liberties and advantages. Religious
and traditional values teach women values such as submission,
patience, love, and respect. The result is that a woman
is not on equal footing with men in competitive situations.
For women to succeed in engineering, it helps if they
have strong family support, the support and assistance
of their professors, and are of high intelligence. Test
scores determine whether or not a person will be admitted
to a particular college, so the dedication to study and
work hard are very important factors in pursuing an engineering
degree. This perserverance can be hard to come by given
the cultural stereotypes of society. That is why family
support is so important for women. Unfortunately, a woman's
husband may often lack enthusiasm for her career choice
because it may take her away from her husband and family
duties. However, this is not always true and a supportive
husband can be a big benefit to a female engineer.
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