It’s a funny memory now for McCaw, but it’s also one that demonstrated to her the value of working for a company that cares. Such is life as a single-parent civil engineer. You just have to decide what’s best for you,” said Valerie McCaw. I went back to work when my kid was eight weeks old…But Some women want to stay home, and I respect that. “Everybody has to decide what your personal situation is when you have kids. “My boss was like, ‘Where the heck are you?’” McCaw said. That’s when the animatronic house band started singing. She was set up in one of the booths, working, talking on the phone to her boss. After trips to the doctor and the pharmacy, her son was running around, having fun, eating pizza. “He had an ear infection, so he couldn’t go to daycare.” “My son was 5 at the time,” said McCaw, then working as a manager for a new branch in a large CE consulting firm in Kansas City. As Mother’s Day 2018 approaches, here are some of their stories: Some days your office is the local Chuck E. “So many women working as civil engineers are now in their 20s and 30s and struggling with that question: can I have this career that I’ve worked my whole life for andalso have a family?”Ĭhristenson and so many other women in ASCE have answered that question affirmatively. “I don’t think there is a woman who hasn’t considered it as a potential tradeoff,” said Rose McClure, P.E., S.E., M.ASCE, a structural engineer for Simpson Gumpertz & Heger in San Francisco. However, when ASCE News explored the ASCE Salary Survey data earlier this year, several women suggested motherhood as a potential reason women civil engineers start making less than their male counterparts, on average, about 10 years into their careers. women with children under the age of 18 are participating in the labor force. Department of Labor statistics show that 70 percent of U.S. It’s not as if the woman who balances a civil engineering career with motherhood is some rare find. That Christenson has found a community of like-minded engineers each passing through similar moments on their life timelines should not be surprising. There are other moms out there responding to my texts at 3 a.m.” Paul, MN, past-president of the ASCE Minnesota Younger Member Group, and new mom. “It’s been nice having other moms going back to work and talking to them, knowing there are other people out there going through what you’re going through,” said Christenson, structural engineer for Short Elliott Hendrickson in St. Her phone is filled with people who know all about the balancing act – motherhood and engineering. Ariel has several friends also nursing newborns and has met many more through an engineering working moms Facebook group. It can also be daunting when you do the math and realize your work day starts in just a few short hours. These days – or more accurately, these nights – she finds herself awake in the hazy daze between midnight and dawn, feeding her infant son, J.J. We’re ready to have a family.'” PHOTO: Ariel Christenson “… But then we were like, ‘You know what, it’s time for the next stage in our life. “We waited to start a family until we were well-established in our careers,” Ariel Christenson said. texting club of engineering working moms.Īriel Christenson is a proud member.

Young mamas ariel