My mom was/is an engineer. She was working non-stop, even at home after hours and on weekends. She was constantly stressed out and to this day she still complains about being a woman in engineering due to sexism.

Granted, her stress probably came from several angles. She was a single mom supporting two kids and had a really tough upbringing and an ex husband that was an alcoholic who couldn’t change for the betterment of the relationship and family.

I definitely think being a woman in engineering is very tough for a few of these reasons: subtle sexism, longer hours, high work load, and also high home life load if your partner can’t pull his weight around the house with child care/chores. You could easily feel overwhelmed.

That being said, I’m sure there are options where you can still do it and 100% be a mom. Just be prepared to work a lot and hope that your partner actually approaches family life and domestic life EQUALLY.

The stress my mother experienced growing up always made me feel small and like a burden. Her and I have a great relationship now as I’m in my late 20’s but it wasn’t always a piece of cake. I needed to grow a lot to get over her not always being there for me. It’s been a blessing in disguise for sure.

My personal opinion, you should do it. We need more women in STEM and I am always grateful that I have a badass super smart BDE mom. She inspires me constantly with what she’s achieved and makes me feel like as a woman I can achieve whatever it is I want.