Mindsets Matter; Sexism in Our System

Mindsets Matter; Sexism in Our System

By Ashley Ng, CV, Foundation/3rd

------

“Equality is not a concept. It's not something we should be striving for. It's a necessity. Equality is like gravity. We need it to stand on this earth as men and women, and the misogyny that is in every culture is not a true part of the human condition. It is life out of balance, and that imbalance is sucking something out of the soul of every man and woman who's confronted with it. We need equality. Kinda now.”
― Joss Whedon

------

A month ago, our university played host to NAM Institute for the Empowerment of Women’s (NIEW) Great Gender Debate 2013. Conducted in the British Parliamentary debate style, each team consisted of two people, one male and one female, where topics under the scope of gender issues were debated and discussed.

It is an event especially significant to science, engineering and technology universities of our kind, sometimes infamous for their inherently sexist policies and ideologies. Be it the university’s selection process or common female students stereotypes, sexism is still an underlying issue in our society especially in the areas pertaining to education and career paths.

In the US, women account for only one-fifth of engineers at national universities, and that number has been dwindling. It isn’t that these women are under-qualified or unevenly matched to the men: in fact women are outpacing men in overall participation in higher education, taking the SAT’s more often, and earning more degrees than men. It’s that there is a constant threat of stereotyping towards these female engineers, and the constant reminder while in university that engineering is apparently a “male-driven field”.

As actual Engineering/Technology students we see with our very own eyes how unbalanced the representation of men and women in these fields is. Sexist behaviours of the students in these institutions do nothing to help this situation.

From memes posted in Facebook groups meant for all students that generalise the populous of engineering student genders to policies that discriminate against women (for example the gender-segregated schedule for the gym schedule that forces girls who want to work out to have to struggle to find a time to actually work out) there is an obvious disparity between the way males and females are viewed in our university.

Stereotype 1: Girls in engineering are "boyish", "unattractive" and "unwanted".

Stereotype 2: Girls in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering simply don't exist apparently!

Stereotype 3: Females cannot do engineering, duh.

Negative effects of sexism

Perhaps the most noticeable gap in our university exists between the number of male and female students exist in the Mechanical Engineering and (to a lesser degree) Electrical Engineering programmes. In fact, the number of male students outnumber the female students in every engineering programme (except maybe Chemical Engineering). Why?

Ask almost any female engineering student and they will tell you why they wanted to be an engineer, or more likely why people around them discouraged them from wanting to be engineers. We live in a Patriarchal society, run by mostly men. This has led to many unfortunately sexist and misogynistic views of women and men. Because of the patriarchy, men are expected to be manly and to be tough 100% of the time, and women are to never cuss like sailors or enjoy football or want to be engineers or scientists. Little girls around the world are forced into gender-roles, given dolls to play with and told that to be rough and inquisitive and intuitive are masculine traits and should be left behind as they grow older.

These stereotypes and the behaviour towards females already in these fields serve to push girls away from engineering. Standford University’s Clayman Institute for Gender Research released an article stating that “extensive empirical research on stereotype threat has demonstrated that if a person is exposed to a negative stereotype about a group to which they belong (e.g. women, Asians, African-Americans), they will then perform worse on tasks related to the stereotype.” It goes on to discuss the “powerful effects of negative stereotypes on the psyche,” stressing how “stereotypes decrease self-assessments of ability, lowering the likelihood that women will enter STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields.”

It doesn’t help that memes like the above play into these stereotypes. They’re not even that funny, and only serve to discourage the female students already in the programme. They ignore completely the minority and propagate the stereotype that these programmes are only for males. Speaking to a female Mechanical Engineering student, she notes the domination of discussion and attention given to them by lecturers.

While it could be argued that this is due to the small number of girls, it is in fact a systematic cycle of oppression. Girls are discouraged from entering the programme (perhaps by family, or circumstance), then those who are brave enough to take a stand (or are interested enough to overlook the discouragement) and enter the field are discriminated against for actually being in the programme, by the very people they are to call friends in the programme.

Hope for the future

Question: Why is it so important to talk about equality?
Answer: Because talk leads to action.

As (to paraphrase our university’s motto) future engineers of the future, we play a huge role in equalising how all members of the human race are treated. And if the debaters that ran rampant around our campus on the 23rd to the 26th of November have anything to say about our futures it’s that it should be one of equality.

If we can get people talking about the future, if we can get people talking about equality, then we can get the ball rolling. Organizations like our university must “control the messages they are sending, by making sure there are no negative gendered beliefs operating in the organization.” Whether it be by regulating the amount of “hate speech” against females by fellow male students, or by actively encouraging more female students to enter these fields to somewhat equalise the ratio between the genders, any change for the better would be encouraging.

All this begins, of course with us asking questions and demanding that the cycle be broken.
While definitely there will be girls (and boys) who don’t like the STEM fields for non-sexist/stereotypical reasons we must make sure that those who do are encouraged to enter and stay in those fields.

Gender stereotypes that define what a little girl can grow up to be must be broken. Little boys and girls must not be told that there are girl and boy subjects; rather that all subjects are for everyone.
It starts with us opening our minds and our arms to show them the welcoming side of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. These fields are fields of logic and critical thinking. If we allow gender stereotypes to blind us, our science is sullied and the whole point of these fields will be moot.

It all starts with us, those who are already in these fields, encouraging our little sisters and our juniors and telling them that it’s okay to want to be an engineer.

If we can’t even accomplish that, then we have no hope of equal opportunities.



Editor's note: The content of this article is the opinion of the author alone and does not represent the views of HOT as an organisation.

Read More

Sitting down with a Mercedes F1 intern!

By Joyce Shamini, CV & Hariz Roslan, CE

A mug of coffee in hand, Mechanical Engineering final year student David Bong from Serian, Sarawak shared with us his overseas internship experiences all the way in the United Kingdom.

David was one of eight UTP students given the one in a million opportunity to intern at the very heart of Mercedes AMG Petronas F1, its headquarters in Brackley, UK. With a CGPA only barely surpassing the minimum requirement, and after acing an hour long nerve-wracking interview with Robert Thomas, Chief Operating Officer at Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Limited, he embarked on an 8 month journey as insider of the F1 Racing World.

Although he had to work crazy hours and start from the most basic, menial tasks (literally checking on thousands of screw threads a day!), it was obvious from the highlights he gave us of his experience that the aphorism, “work hard, play hard” definitely stood true throughout his internship. The highlights of his internship include operating laser etching machines for racing cars in production, witnessing an FIA (Federation of International Automobiles) crash test firsthand, stripping down an actual used racing car, meeting world renowned Mercedes F1 drivers Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and Ross Brawn the team principal, and vacationing across the country on his days off. One interesting story he shared which reflected the casual work ethics of the British was how his boss gave all the Malaysian interns two hours off during working hours just to get out and play in the first snowfall of winter.

When asked on the biggest hurdle he had to overcome, surprisingly it was something as subtle as the weather. The cold and sunlight-deprived winter in England was altogether very depressing and he gained newfound appreciation of the sunny Malaysian weather since then (Tronoh, anyone?). Next to that, there was the general intimidation you get from being a small sized Asian surrounded by towering 6-footer colleagues. Nevertheless, he encourages all future interns to never be deterred by what may seem like a limitation at first, i.e. the weather or stature. Start with what you are capable of, earn your superiors’ trust, and progress slowly from there on. He emphasizes that being proactive has brought him some of the best lessons and opportunities, so guys about to intern next January: Aim high, THIS could be your story next.

P.S. HOT would like to thank David Bong for his time and willingness to be interviewed for the content of this article

Read More

Internship Myth Busters!

By Hariz Roslan, CE & Joyce Shamini, CV

UTP has long been renowned for its lengthy internship periods, but there are some really dangerous misconceptions floating about, often confusing even its own students! So it's time to separate the fact from fiction when it comes to internship placements!

MYTH: Big companies are ALWAYS better than small companies

FACT:  True, big companies might boost your CV but to what extent will it help you? (Especially if you wind up stuck in the office finishing up your superior’s petty jobs.) A smaller company on the other hand means a smaller staff count and more individual attention. Supervisors tend to personally undertake the job of mentoring and nurturing you. A better supervisor-intern relationship is built, you get to handle more critical tasks or projects as you prove your worth over time, and who knows you might end up working WITH them instead of FOR them, and that level of involvement itself is a worthy mention in your curriculumn-vitae (CV).  

Conclusion: Size doesn't matter. 

MYTH: GPA matters MOST. 

FACT: Yes, outstanding academic qualifications would help and companies do look out for these academically stellar individuals, but aren’t there just thousands and thousands of them out there to choose from? Afterall, “'you are unique, just like everybody else”, so what gives you the edge over others? Networking. Your interpersonal skills put to application, it’s now up to you to associate with influential people that could possibly land you an internship, or even a job in the future. It is true that most job and internship opportunities do come by way of recommendations, be it by your lecturers, seniors or UTP staff.

Conclusion: Networking > Academical prowess

I mean come on, how much of what you learn are you going to use anyway?

MYTH: An overseas internship is all travel and fun. 

FACT: When you start your internship in any local or overseas company, chances are your colleagues are expecting you to work just as hard as them, if not harder. Granted there is the initial stage of showing you around and getting you comfortable but all that gracious hospitality is only going to last for about a week. Most overseas interns come back, admitting that they did do their fair bit of hard labour and came across many difficult situations which those travel photos plastered all over their Facebook timelines would never be able to reveal. For most of them, a good night’s sleep after a long day of work is a good enough vacation for them.  

Conclusions: Yes, you do get breaks and leaves from work but 70% of the time you will be working your butts off.

MYTH: Never send your CV directly to the company, only apply through UTP’s Internship Unit. 

FACT: A popular misconception within our university. It started of with Facebook posts reading “Don't send your CV directly to the CEOs ” which then evolved into “Don't send your CV directly to the companies, only go through UTP’s Internship Unit” being circulated among our students. While it’s true that we should never send our CV to top-level managers and to a particular list of companies provided by *CSIMAL (due to a Memorandum of Understanding between the companies and UTP), we can and are encouraged to send in our CV’s to the Human Resources Unit (HRU) of any other companies we’re interested in. Should you be unsure of the department or contact details, do contact the company’s general line. There are always people that would help to redirect you to the proper channels, just don't be shy on asking.

Conclusion: Shoot those CV’s away, to infinity and beyond! 

MYTH:  Emoticons, multiple exclamation marks and short forms are okay to send along with your CV. 

FACT: We’re not sure if even a basic thing like that needs to be clarified but surprisingly, this was one of the common mistakes cited by Mr Mohd Izmafaimal Bin Abdul Manaf, Executive of Centre for Student Internship, Mobility and Adjunct Lectureship (CSIMAL) often frowned upon by potential companies seeking applicants. Never underestimate the power of email salutations, notice of attachments, using formal language and having common decency in your emailing or phone conversations in influencing your chances of getting an ideal internship placement. Get someone to guide you if you’re unsure.

Conclusion : Learn proper unwritten etiquettes when it comes to communication and emailing.

MYTH: CSIMAL shortlists candidates for MoU Companies and Overseas Internship Placement.

FACT: CSIMAL follows the requirements set by the MoU companies (main criteria such as CGPA) , sponsor and etc. Should there be 100 students that satisfy the requirement(s),  100 names will be sent in. If the company requests 100 Curricular Vitaes(CVs), hence 100 CVs will be sent. No authority has been given to CSIMAL to filter the students, including applicants for the Overseas Internship Placement. If there are students recommended to go overseas and it suits their interest, CSIMAL would forward their names without any unnecessary delay. It is obviously in CSIMAL’s interest to ensure that UTP’s students secure the best internship placement possible, therefore they are doing their best to achieve that. 

To sum up, we’d like to quote John F. Kennedy, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” Likewise, as we dream of an internship that could offer us the the most in terms of experience and knowledge, we need to also assess ourselves and weigh our capacities against the company or research university we’re up against. 

P.S. HOT would like to thank Mr Mohd Izmafaimal Bin Abdul Manaf, Executive of *Centre for Student Internship, Mobility and Adjunct Lectureship (CSIMAL) for his time and willingness to be interviewed for the content of this article

Read More

UTP Invitational Chess Tournament 2013

UTP Invitational Chess Tournament 2013

Thenmalar Rajoo, Foundation 2nd Sem, PG

UTP Chess Dragon had successfully organised the UTP Invitational Chess Tournament 2013 that began on the 27^th and ended on the 29^th of September this year. The three days tournament was sponsored by the Co-curriculum unit and was held in the Main Hall.

 

The first day started off with registration of the competitors, followed by rounds one and two. Rounds three, four and five were played on Saturday. The final two rounds and the closing ceremony were held on Sunday.

Mr. Abdul Rahman Mohammad Amin was invited as the Officiator of the closing ceremony for the tournament. Project Director of the tournament, Mr Wong Hoong Wei said “The main objectives of organising this tournament are to provide a chance to young potential players, produce healthy sports and to improvise the players’ skills to compete at higher levels.”

The participants of this tournament were categorised into three categories; the female category, IPT category and school category. The female category had two teams and there were six teams under the school category. A total of six teams participated in the IPT category. Representing UTP were UTP Knight, UTP Phoenix and UTP Dragon. Each team comprised of four players and each round consisted of three hours.

Prizes were given to the champion, first runner up, second runner up, as well as the fourth and fifth place winners. Special titles like Best Sport, Best IPT, Best School and Best Female Player were awarded to outstanding competitors.

In addition, members of the club even took an initiative by selling food and beverages during the tournament to raise funds.

Read More

Beyond Borders, Beyond Horizons

Beyond Borders, Beyond Horizons

                     Kavinash Kumar Kunarajah, Foundation Sem 2, ME                    

BATU EMPOH- A group of foundation students have successfully organized a homestay programme known as ‘Kenali Malaysia 2013’ (KM-13) which lasted from 10^th until12^th September, with the theme of ‘Beyond Borders, Beyond Horizons’. Co-organised by ISCUTP, the ultimate goal was to foster a harmonious relationship between UTP students and the rural communities. This programme provided an opportunity to international students specifically, in getting to know the unique cultures of some of the Malaysian indigenous communities or Orang Asli.

 

A great deal of activities were organised to augment and deepen the understanding on the lifestyle of Orang Asli. Night walking in a dense jungle, doing the Bamboo Dance (a tribal dance), interacting with children, cleaning-up and recreation time in a hot spring were just some of the highlights of the three days-two nights programme.

 

The international students were amazed to experience the lifestyle of the Orang Asli, so much so that they requested the organisers of KM-13 to arrange for more visits of a similar naturefuture. Currently, the organizers are developing a proposal for the sequel of the programme with more exploration and fun activities.

Read More

RCSU Celebrates its 14th Awards Ceremony

RCSU Celebrates its 14h Awards Ceremony

By Muhammad Anwar Ibrahim, 1st year 2nd sem, ME

Photographs by Muhammad, 1st year 2nd sem, ME

 







Project Manager of MAKK





August 17th, 2013: A night to remember! With the theme 'Rubik's Cube', the Residential College Support Unit organized an annual event called Malam Anugerah Kolej Kediaman at the Main Hall for the fourteenth time.

 

 

 

 

 



Performance



The event offered a variety of scrumptious food, as well as stunning performances by the students for the entertainment of the honored guests. The purpose of this event was to appreciate those who had contributed to the community inside and outside of UTP. The goal of this event was to inspire students to excel in both academic and co-curricular activities {as well as} to achieve their aim of being a well-rounded graduates. The theme 'Rubik's Cube' was chosen to symbolize the complexities  of life; whereby life is compared to a big puzzle in which one may go through many challenges, but there would always be a solution to these problems.  



 







Award -giving Ceremony by dashing Redza Minhat



The event began with speeches from the Project Manager, Mohammad Sofwan bin Abdul Basith, and the Officiator of the event. This was followed by a sharing session from a good-looking and well-known actor, Redza Minhat. He gave a few tips on how to achieve success in life. The first was, we need find out where our passion lies and struggle as hard as we can to achieve it. Secondly, we need to learn how to manage our time and organize our daily chores. Third, we need to learn to make the right choices because that is the determinant of one's success. Last but not least, we need to love ourselves. We must try to accept all our weaknesses and channel our strength towards a more meaningful purpose.

 

The event ended with the awards presentation and the a lucky draw session. The best student for the Male Category was awarded to Mr.Syamsul Syahiran Bin Mohamad, whereas the female category was awarded to Miss Siti Zubaidah binti Adnan. This event was hosted by the remarkable duo Nur Eleena Binti Aqmal and Efi Iskandar Bin Zainuddin. Their stage chemistry and uplifting banter made it a great night for all.

Read More

Breaking the Glass Ceiling

Breaking the Glass Ceiling

by Natasha Eliyana Azahari, ICT 

Tronoh, 17^th July 2013 - GE day has brought yet again another series of spectacular events. Among these events was an informative talk, or rather, a sharing session entitled ‘Breaking the Glass Ceiling; Sharing by Women Leaders. Held at the Undercroft, the sharing session managed to open the eyes of the prospective female leaders in UTP about the importance of stepping up the game in today’s competitive world. The two lovely speakers were more than willing to share their experiences while working for GE and the reason why they had chosen GE as their employer.

They had managed to get into the company through a Leadership Program GE had organized.

At the start of their career with GE, they had to go through a ‘rotation system’, whereby a trainee works for a certain period of time in different places, local and international. Through this system, they had gained the opportunity to travel to various countries around the world.

They highlighted the notion that GE is a performance-driven company as they take the well-being of their investors very seriously; a large portion of their investors are actually citizens.

Currently, both of them are working under the finance department of GE and are the forefront liners contributing to much of GE’s success. It was then revealed that both of them are married and have children. It was surprising enough to discover that the forefront liners, the success drivers of GE (a large company) are women, but to learn that they are married women, was an entirely new thing altogether. In order to take on such responsibilities, it is vital that they are physically and mentally capable.

The audience shared the same sentiment as Mrs Alisha (one of the two speakers) recounted her experience as being one of the few female staffs in GE. She listed the difficulties she had faced during her career; among them were the challengers of working in a male-dominated industry, as well as countless self-confidence issues.

“Just be thick-skinned. You need to be thick-skinned!” she exclaimed to the audience.

That being said, she linked the fact that women tend to worry more and consequently, underestimate themselves. In order to overcome it, she said, you have to be brass and just ask when you don’t understand, rather than just sit there and nod along. She also reminded the audience that is required of them to be physically and mentally prepared.

As the session approached to an end, the GE ladies team stepped forward to introduce themselves. One of the ladies in particular, Ms.Awatif, is the only female Field Engineer of GE in the Southeast Asia region up to date. Ms Awatif shared her many stories during her travels and career under GE with the audience, followed up by a tirade of questions from the floor, to which she boldly answered.

The team encouraged more admissions of female employees in the future. They hoped to see fresh faces from time to time in the company.

It was a highly beneficial sharing session for all the participants. As so, more events such as this should be incorporated more frequently, as a source of inspiration to female population in UTP.

Read More

"I do not know the solution, but I do know how to generate it"

"I do not know the solution, but I do know how to generate it"

by Cheam Cheah Jun, PG

Tronoh, 24 May –It’s a common misconception to think that creativity and the ability to be innovative are natural attributes; these can actually be taught by TRIZ.

TRIZ is the Russian acronym for Teoriya Resheniya Izobretatelskikh Zadach, which is translated into the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving. Developed in the former USSR in 1946, it was used to enable engineers to effectively overcome difficult technological challenges. 

Today, TRIZ is used by many leading corporations to enhance their global competitiveness.

This year, Mr.Issac Lim Sing Sheng was invited to the TRIZ workshop, in calibration with the Career Advisory Unit and Alumni of University Teknologi Petronas (UTP). Mr Issac said that he joined TRIZ when he was still an undergraduate in Mechanical Engineering. He felt that all the theory he had learned from the textbook could not be applied when it comes to solving a real life situation. He joked that he can’t probably do some mathematical calculation such as integration when he encounters a problem in real life.

The workshop was held in Seminar room 2, at the Undercroft for 2 consecutive days beginning at 9am and ending at 5pm. There were 76 participants who attended; more than the organizing committee had expected. 

Read More

To be a better Mu'min

 To be a better Mu’min

by Anwar Ibrahim, ME

Tronoh, 27^th May- After the regular Maghrib prayers at the An-Nur Mosque, students were enlightened with an informative talk by special guest Imam Muda Nazrul. Being the first runner-up for ‘Program Imam Muda Season 2’, he kept the audience thoroughly engaged with his sense of humour and talent for singing.

Titled ‘Asas Kehidupan Mukmin yang Berjaya’, his talk, which was mainly directed at teenagers, focused on how to be a better and successful person in this world as well as in the hereafter. The one hour and a half talk was an eye opener to those who attended. According to him, in order to be a successful mukmin, one needs to follow 10 guidelines. However, he stressed on two very important points: to trust Allah S.W.T and follow Prophet Muhammad(sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam); and to develop and maintain good Akhlak. These two guidelines make up the strong foundation in becoming a successful person.  

The first point he highlighted, as mentioned before, was to trust Allah S.W.T and follow Prophet Muhammad(sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam). He said that everyone can excel in anything they choose, but in order to be really successful (this world and the hereafter included), one must ensure that he is on the right path and directed by the Almighty.

The second point brought up was that we as humans must always have good Akhlak (moral) and Akidah (faith). We must always remember and have faith in the Almighty and the Prophet (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam).Trust in the Almighty and the Prophet S.A.W is vital, because if we place out trust in the Almighty and the Prophet (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), we will not hesitate to defend the good and seek guidance from the Almighty in everything we do.

Imam Muda Nazrul also emphasized that we must always practice ‘Amar makruf nahi mungkar’ (‘Enjoining what is right and forbidding what is evil’) in our daily lives. The talk ended with the Isyak prayers and a photo-taking session with his fans.

Read More

ChildPro Charity Run 2013

ChildPro Charity Run 2013

by Charlene Sharmini Fernandes, CE

Chancellor Complex, 1^st June – Children Provision (ChildPro) Charity Run 2013 kicked off with an officiating speech and when the horn was blown, all the participants enthusiastically ran putting their best foot forward to embrace victory. The run started off in front of our majestic Chancellor Complex covering 7km for males and 5 km for the females. The boys had to dash to the main gate before passing through V5 and returning back to where they started. The girls however took a shorter path by heading towards the Lecture Halls, followed by a quick run through V5 and finally finishing at where they started as well.

Hamidelgzali Abdullah came in first with an unexpected time of 18.10 minutes. “It is just awesome!” he exclaimed upon reaching the finishing point. 

For the female category, Siti Hafizah Ariffah Bt Hj Ahmad Mahyuddin crossed the finishing line at exactly 26.24 minutes. She was exhilarated as this was her first time taking part in any run. “My birthday charm surely has been working really well today,” she added with a wink.

Winners walked home with a trophy and a water bottle signed by none other than our famous Dato’ Lee Chong Wei.  In addition to that, the champions of both categories received a hamper each.

Almur (2^nd, 2^nd, EE) a representative from the UTP Road Runners voiced his joy in running for charity. Baxter Yong (1^st year, 2^nd sem, PG) who came in 6^th for the boy’s category with a time difference of a nearly a minute also was contented as he felt healthier.  “Rather than sleeping through the whole morning, I did something fruitful,” he said.

Le Masculine Champions

This event brought together almost 113 participants and managed to raise a total of RM 665. At the end of the day, its project director, Ivan Tan was very pleased with his committee and was said to be looking forward to the upcoming ChildPro activities in store, i. e. Charity Basketball, Charity Fair and Charity Night. All funds raised were donated to children homes and orphanages at Ipoh.

The winners are as follows :-

Male

1^st        Hamedelqzali Abdullah Hamed                             18.16 min

2^nd        Lee Hsiu Eik                                                       18.51 min

3^rd        Victor Midir                                                         19.58 min

4^th        Mohd. Mikhael Bin Mohd Lesly                           20.22 min

Female

1^st        Siti Hafizah Ariffah Bintu Haji Ahmad Mahyddin    26.24 min

2^nd          Nur Shamimi Binti Abdul Rahim                            26.35 min

3^rd        Nur Zahidah Bintu Kamamdzaman                        26.46 min

4^th        Debra Chia                                                           28.31 min

 

Read More