The walls of the new first floor lobby of the Alkek Library are adorned with Texas State student projects that demonstrate how technology and creativity align in the new Alkek One areas of the library. Seven student projects were selected among entries to the inaugural competition for art installations to be featured in the Alkek One Student Gallery. Library staff partnered with the Common Experience team and selected the winners that depicted this year’s campus theme of Dynamics. Dynamics involves the consideration of forces or motion including physical, motiving, moral or historical forces that produce growth, movement or change. The article below profiles one of the participants whose work was selected for the gallery.
Young girls drawn to engineering disciplines are sometimes challenged by forces that don’t support their dreams. When you grow up in a country where women are still expected to plan their lives solely around being a wife and mother, there are many obstacles to overcome on the journey toward a fulfilling career in engineering.
As a girl, Fatema Tuz Zohra had big dreams. She wanted to be an engineer. Not just any engineer, she wanted a career in engineering design for the automotive or power industries. But for a woman in Bangladesh this goal presented many challenges and obstacles that she would have to overcome.
Engineering was her calling, but art ignites passion. So when the Alkek Library put out a call for artistic works that either used digital design or that represented women or people of color in technology for its first floor lobby, Zohra decided to create a painting inspired by her own story that would capture the struggles of women in technology fields.
She had first-hand experience with some of these struggles. When Zohra chose to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering, those around her questioned this decision.
“People said: ‘You are a girl, what are you gonna do as an engineer,’” she recalled. “Especially when I chose mechanical engineering instead of computer science or something else. Because they said, ‘It’s all guys, you know?’”
But even after she earned her degree and started working, she continued to encounter resistance.
“After I got married and had a baby, my own family said I should focus on my family and raising the kid and stuff,” she said. “As a mechanical engineer, I had a dream to work on a creative design teams.”
However, those desires came with multiple complications. First, there was the fact that the jobs in her desired industries were designed for men.
“They had a lot of shift duties. And in Bangladesh, because of the lack of automation, there was a lot of physical labor required. So, it was expected that people would hire men. The jobs that I could get were not to my satisfaction,” Zohra said.
And then there was her daughter. There were no options for childcare or daycare in Bangladesh. Most women who work turn to grandparents to care for their children. Zohra’s mother had died and her in-laws lived far away, so that wasn’t an option for her. But, she didn’t want to give up on her career goal. Her mother had always advised her to be her own person and that is what she wanted to be.
“I was super frustrated, but then I figured that if I wanted to make my dream to come true, I would have to choose to do higher study in the U.S. or Canada (where there were options for childcare),” she said.
Undefeated, she and her infant daughter came to San Marcos, Texas in 2018. She had been accepted in Texas State’s master’s program for manufacturing engineering. Her husband joined them a year later and he enrolled in the same program.
In the description of her painting, Zohra’s determination and difficulties as well as the struggles of many women in technology fields are evident:
“A girl accompanied by her puppy is looking at the snowy winter night sky through her telescope, lantern by her side. The full moon is shining bright in the sky along side the sparkling Milky Way. At a far distance, there are snow-top mountains and only one hut in sight. The harsh winter night depicts the harsh environment that a female goes through to fulfill her dreams, just like reaching to the stars. Despite every hurdle, she keeps going. Her faith and hopes are portrayed as the lantern by her side. Overall, the painting represents both the beauty and struggle of all women in science and engineering who dare to dream.”
Zohra not only finished her master’s program, she is currently in her first year pursuing her PhD in materials science, engineering and commercialization.
“I can’t wait to finish and get into my industry,” Zohra confessed. But for now she is content to have the time to spend raising her daughter. “By the time I finish my PhD, she will be self-sufficient enough and won’t need me as much. My career is my second priority. Being a good mother is my first priority. So, I planned everything around her.”
Zohra’s story and her painting serve as inspiration for her daughter and for women in STEM who dare to reach for the stars and make their dreams come true.
This article was contributed by Debbie Pitts, University Libraries marketing and communications coordinator.