(WXYZ) — More and more women continue to break barriers in the world of STEM.
According to the National Center for Science and Engineering, between 2011 and 2021, the number of women working in STEM increased by 31%, from 9.4 million to 12.3 million.
Some of those jobs include helping building the roads, and I spoke to a group of women about their experience working in transportation.
My big takeaway from speaking to these three women is that you don't have to be a math and science expert to work in transportation. There are so many opportunities you may not even know about.
“Growing up, I always thought, living in Clarkston, I always thought everybody was a car engineer, and that just really wasn’t where my passion lied," Lauren Warren said.
Warren was on the path to become a teacher until she found civil engineering.
“I loved how civil engineering touches everyone's lives," she added. "It's the infrastructure, it's the roads, it's the bridges, it's the water, it's all the things that really impact people.”
Sarah Binkowski is also an engineer. She tells me there are a variety of opportunities in the field of transportation.
"The softer side is working more with the public, it’s working more with planners, and it’s working with maybe doing more traffic engineering conceptual design," Binkowski said.
That's compared to what she says is the harder side of engineering, like working on the computer, doing structural engineering or road design.
Both Warren and Binkowski are members of Women's Transportation Seminar (WTS), an organization dedicated to attracting women and advancing women in the transportation industry.
President Theresa Petko tells me the organization has come a long way from when they first started the Michigan chapter in 1997.
“When it first started, women went to their bosses to attend events they were turned down because it was deemed to be a social group for women to talk," Petko said.
The other big change is seeing more women work alongside her.
“It’s become more of a norm, than an exception, in the last 15 years," Petko said. "I remember being the only female in the room for many many years.”
While this story is about women working in transportation, Warren said it's all about the strong relationships you build with everyone you encounter.
“It's really when you are not in the room, who’s going to stand up for you, and for a long time it was only men in the room," she said. "They were there, and so those people, and now it is becoming more women right, so it’s really those people standing up for you when you are not there.”
The women I spoke to tell me if you do want a career in transportation, joining a group like WTS can really help build those connections.
THE WOMEN I SPOKE TO TELL ME IF YOU DO WANT A CAREER IN TRANSPORTATION, JOINING A GROUP LIKE WTS CAN REALLY HELP BUILD THOSE CONNECTIONS.
