Interview of Srijana Tuladhar (02/02/2012)

1st PART: Woman’s history comprehension/understanding

• Can you present yourself in a few words and explain us what is your job/responsibilities?

I’m working in the MRB & Associates company. We are designing the structure of  apartments, hospitals, commercial complexes… Our company has projects all over the country but also in Pakistan and in Bouthan. I started here as a Junior civil engineer, now I’m Senior structure engineer and I do most of the structures we are designing in this office. In this company of approximately 12 people, I’m part of the seniors because I joined this nearly 20 years old company only 2 or 3 years after its beginning. So I’m teaching structure to the new employees, at this time we have 3 or 4 youngs.

• How did you come to engineering and sciences?

Actually, as a child I wanted to be a civil engineer because it was the job of my grand father. At that time there was not that much engineers in Nepal but he was one of them, he was supervising the construction of palaces. My parents are not in this field, my father is managing a hotel. 

• Did you have to face any difficulty as a woman in your studies/in your job? Or do you think being a woman facilitated it?

I don’t think that being a woman is a problem because here in Nepal we can study as the boys do, but after we have to manage our job with our functions at home. I studied in COED, coeducation, which means that boys and girls are in the same school and I never noticed that there are so many differences between boys and girls. When I was studying in civil engineer school, the average was of only 2 or 3 girls in a 100 student’s class. 3 years before I came to school, there was only 1 girl, but I was lucky that in my year we were 5 girls, it was great because you can’t share everything with boys. I think that there was only few girls because when you choose engineer studies, lots of boys ask you why you don’t choose for example architecture, so many boys asked me that question, I was just answering that I liked it and I wanted to work practically. And I was one of the first students to get a job going out from school!

• How do you conciliate professional and personal life?

I have two children, they are 4 and 12 years old and it’s difficult to balance professional and family life, specially because you often have to come back home on time because the children are there.  I’m in a joined family so I don’t have so many problems about it, my mother in law who I’m living with helps me with that. But sometimes I have problems when my children are not well, in those times I have to come back home. My older son, he is now living in his school, 1 hour drive from Kathmandu and he visits us 1 time a month. My husband is a businessman, he has a lot of work too so he cant’s always help me with children.

• Could you tell us professional realizations you are proud of?

As a structure engineer, I do a lot of structure design and when I show the buidings I designed to my friends who left Nepal to work abroad, they are impressed that I’ve been designing myself the structure of so many buildings.

2nd PART:  General debate on woman engineer: differences and new things a woman can bring in a male team

• Do you think men and women work differently? Could you give us concrete examples (personal works, project works)?

No, we are working the same. For me, even the way of working is the same. The difference is that the girls for example in this office, they don’t meet their colleagues out of work, but men they do meet after work. We don’t want to be that close to our colleagues. 

• Do you think that gender diversity in a team is helpful for working atmosphere and/or is linked to team performance?

It’s the same, we can work equally, for me there is no difference. There is maybe few differences on the sites: as the menpower are not educated, they mostly don’t listen to the women as they do for men. Now this is changing because there is more and more women engineers. But when I began my job, they were surprised to see me on sites, now they got used to it and most of them know me. Sometimes I have to travel to visit sites and this is complicated for my family, my husband can manage for some days but not for more, so this is good if there is a man in my team, so he can visit the site himself.

   

3rd PART:  Vidéo

• Short representation

My name is Srijana Tuladhar and I work for MRB and Associates. I’ve been working here for 15 years and I’m designing structures for residential building, hospitals, bridges…

• Which advice would you give to any young woman who hesitates to start engineering studies?

I don’t think you have to hesitate, this job will change your dreams into realities, that’s why I think that this job is a nice one!

• What has been your biggest difficulty as a women engineer?

I don’t think I had to face any difficulties as a women engineer.

• What has been your best satisfaction as a women engineer?

When I see my work turning into reality and the buildings done, I’m proud, and this is my biggest satisfaction.

• What is your next challenge?

My next challenge is to do well all the work which comes on my way.