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“There’s opportunity with diversity to bring new fresh ideas, new perspectives, creativity, open dialogue, solutions to all kinds of problems,”
Anna said. “When people with different backgrounds work together, they each bring their own experiences to the table and that can bring
great value and opportunity to the profession.”
We all know that we need more surveyors. It’s possible that the profession can gain a lot of that missing workforce simply by reaching out
to some of the underrepresented groups that may not have been introduced to surveying in the past.
Overcoming gender stereotypes

Diversity encompasses more than gender, but gender stereotypes are a big elephant in the room.

It’s easy to assume that rampant gender stereotypes are a thing of the past, but that’s simply not true.

In Arizona, less than 5% of registered surveyors are women.
Geoholics host Kent Groh recalled an episode of the podcast where two Arizona female surveyors were interviewed.

One of the women shared a recent phone call she took from a male caller. He said that he wanted to talk to the registered professional
surveyor. She said: that’s me. The man didn’t believe her.
When Roxanne started surveying several decades ago, the field was almost purely made up of “grumpy old white men.”

“It was a big struggle to try to get licensed. It was constantly having to prove myself. Pay differentials were huge between myself and a
male just starting out. Back then, it’s like, what can you do? There wasn’t a lot of pathways.
You either had a job, or you didn’t.”

Today it’s progressively getting better, but Roxanne thinks it’s still not where it needs to be.
Hasmitha has also experienced stereotyping firsthand. While studying geomatics and petroleum engineering in college, she was essentially
told that field jobs were for men.
“We had a lot of oil and gas companies come in looking for geologists or field engineers. And they would just say, ‘yeah, we’re looking
to hire five men to work on the rig.’ It was just taken as a fact that women wouldn’t be interested in this drilling opportunity or geologist
opportunity,” she said.

Hasmitha knew that a desk job wasn’t her only option. But she felt like she had to fight for the opportunities that landed at the feet of the
men around her.

In Anna’s home base of Texas, only 3% of surveyors are female. In the past 20 years, only 15 new Texan women have been licensed.

Anna was supremely lucky in that the first person she worked for when she became a surveyor was the very first woman surveyor ever
licensed in the state of Texas. It gave her the role model and inspiration she needed to keep going.

“That’s where I got my inspiration. So I think when it comes to stereotypes, it’s very important to create that visibility. Because I saw her as
a surveyor. And because I saw her, I felt maybe this is something I can do,” Anna said.

“It’s important to realize how you treat people impacts whether or not they stick around in the career in surveying. We really can’t afford
to lose anybody,” Anna said. “So if there’s a woman that’s working in the field, we need to be supportive and encouraging, and we need to
understand their background and their differences and support that.”
Diversity starts with leadership

If diversity inroads are going to happen in surveying, it’s important that diversity is
promoted from the top down.

Transformative change needs to begin with leadership. It will require changes in company
culture, education, and accountability.

“If the leaders of the company are not following what they say and not implementing
their goals and their values for the culture of their company, then they’re going to run into
problems,” Anna said.

In surveying, it’s all too easy to have a disconnect between the office and the field.

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