A Critical Analysis on Negotiations with Motherhood Article - Essay Example

For those women who chose to enter male-dominated professions, they face a good number of obstacles in either overt or subvert forms of gender discrimination that still persists even today. Women who enter the engineering profession should discard the so-called term of “conceptual men” because it is incompatible with their real nature as females and instead accept their femininity. Overview: In her article entitled “No longer “one of the boys”: Negotiations with motherhood, as prospect or reality, among women in engineering,” author Gillian Ranson posits the idea that women who become engineers will eventually have to face the very question or prospect of their femininity.

The article was published in the Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology in May of 2005 and again raises the issue of how gender equality can never be attained in any male-dominated profession because of the time when these women have to make a choice between work and family balance. There is no escaping this fact, more so with women in their 20s and 30s who have to decide which to give more priority, the careers they worked so hard to reach, or face the choices of opting out, doing part-time work or putting things on hold (back burner).

It can be said the struggle for equality and gender neutrality is a bit misplaced. Evaluation of the article: Gillian Ranson relied heavily on direct interviews with women who work as engineers and so her research work can be considered as an original work output although she also utilized a variety of sources, mainly previous works on feminist ideology. This makes her article acquire a degree of credibility by commenting on the original works of others who had likewise examined the issue of gender neutrality in various professions and work setting especially in engineering wherein women enter the workforce with a tacit understanding that the