I feel like female engineers have much more drive than their male counterparts in most cases. They are out to prove they can hack it in what is traditionally male dominated. My wife is one and she has issues with RE b/c of the drive to prove she can do it all ... many others i run into are quite similar. - more so in the millenial generation than previous generations as well. maybe its not true everywhere but alot of the older been around the block female engineers i run into are space taker uppers b/c they know they are satisfying a diversification spot just being there.
I can't tell where you're from, where you've worked or how old you are...perhaps I missed it in the previous posts.
I'm one of those female engineers that has been working over 35 years. California, across Canada, Europe, New York, and a number of other assignments.
Not sure what radar space you function in but my experience doesn't support your statement.
Engineers whether they've been men or women vary based on all that has gone into making them and bringing them to their current position. I've worked in the defense industry which while male dominated still provided women opportunities that were based on their abilities, work ethic and personality.
To say that you "feel" and go on to generalize that female engineers have more drive based on their gender is so ridiculous that I laughed when I read that comment. As I laugh at any other sweeping generalization.
I've encountered female engineers who continued as individual contributors, team leads, project/product managers, dept mgrs, division mgrs, VPs, and all the way up. And men who've been in the same type of positions.
I think in many cases their drive was equal to those that they aspired to work amongst...whether male or female. They possessed the traits, knowledge, experience or whatever was being sought for the particular jobs that they were seeking. As well as the network relationships, luck, or just plain old hard work. And there were those that were promoted or given opportunities simply based on ruthlessness...this applies to people....not necessarily either gender.
Your statement says that the only reason older female engineers are tolerated is because of the need to maintain diversity? What BS.