There are not many things that annoy me more than inequality between the sexes; most people hype on about "discrimination" but that is a catchall word that really does not describe some of the perverse inequities that are out there. Because electronics engineering has long seen to have been a man's playing field it is perhaps not surprising that some of these issues are ignored -- but it is outrageous that they are.

Within the last two weeks, two cases of what I believe are sexually-created inequalities have been in my viewfinder, and I don't like them being there.

When I taught engineering -- mostly line, radio and broadcast communications engineering -- I probably had an average of 2 women a year in classes that averaged about 23. They were nearly always way up there with the best of any year: They worked harder, they worked smarter, they asked a lot more about the what-ifs than the men. But that was in Europe where the ratio of women engineers is among the highest in the world. The United States has not been nearly so progressive, nor so quickly.

That aside, those women who have decided to be involved in high technology don't deserve what they seem to get. The glass ceiling may have been cracked by a small proportion of women in big business -- a fact that big business is happy to boast about -- but I see glass cubicles being built around too many women in electronics. How else can you explain the frustrations of these women in their work environments, even doing what they love.

The pattern seems to be fairly consistent, with a male manager taking credit for performance with no consideration given to the female report, who actually deserves the credit. In these situations it is the male who doesn't understand the technology, the process or the service that is being performed for his group. He even searches for confirmation from others for what he is being told by his report, and is usually frightened to ask his report to explain something. My spouse calls it "the master reporting to the apprentice" and it is scary.

Is it deliberate? Of course. When someone is frightened to seek knowledge from his staff he knows he is in the wrong. And the best test of all has to be, "would this happen if my report was a male?" Men in that position don't put up with such situations for very long, so if it happens it doesn't happen for long. Men in that position walk.

I cannot tell you why women do not walk as readily. There is a feeling perhaps that tells them that they must not appear to be quitters, that they are "difficult" if they gripe about it; the reverse, unfortunately, is seen by these manipulating managers: They see the woman who puts up with him taking the credit as being weak and there is nothing that needs changing.

Whatever the relationship, be it domestic or on the job, there is never any need to put up with abuse; that is what this is. If you are in that position get out of it; either find the right person in the company who can change what is going on, or get out of the company. You know the value you bring to the table, don't put up with the pleas that things will get better, that they are being worked on -- they almost certainly will not happen unless you put everything on the line.

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