I'm not claiming that there are no coloured or female engineers in this country, but I'd still maintain very few.
Malaysia is interesting on two levels I think; firstly their local issue of certain professions apparently "belonging" to particular races - a peculiarity of that country I think. The other however is that (I was told, and the mix of people I met seemed to confirm that) engineers in Malaysia are about 55:45 female:male. This certainly seems to suggest that the British norm that engineering is something that inherently is much more appealling to men than women, is more a function of being British, than being human?
Maybe I should go and discuss this with my friend Pete, he's a ward sister!
G