Changing perceptions : National Women in Engineering Day
National Women in Engineering Day was a great initiative, but real success will be demonstrated when the day is no longer required, says Laura Birtwell, chair of the CH2M Women’s Network.
I was extremely proud to be a woman working in engineering this week, as I saw my online news and Twitter feeds fill with stories about National Women in Engineering Day on Tuesday morning.
In only its second year, it has been encouraging to see so many people celebrating the successes of women in the industry and promoting to a wider audience the role of engineers in our society.
"Only when we change perceptions of what it means to be an engineer in the twenty-first century and the opportunities this brings will we see a real transformation occur"
However, the real importance of this day lies in how we inspire the school girls of today to become the engineers of the tomorrow in an attempt to plug the UK's engineering skills gap.
The statistics are concerning and highlight the challenge the engineering sector faces in the next five years in addressing this growing gap. As an industry we need to double the number of engineering graduates and apprentices by 2020 to meet the demand of over one million additional engineers and technicians that will be building the UK's future infrastructure. At present less than ten per cent of the UK's engineering workforce are women - a gender imbalance that is unprecedented across other sectors in Britain and a figure that we simply cannot afford to ignore if we are to meet these targets.
The engineering industry is making good progress but more needs to be done if we are to see a major change occur.
The first step in this process is education - highlighting the importance of STEM subjects from a younger age and working to get engineering on the curriculum would be a great step in challenging the perceptions children and parents have of our industry. It is not all hard hats and heavy machinery, engineering is about improving the world we live in, making it more sustainable for a growing population and improving the quality of lives.
"I hope one day that National Women in Engineering Day will be something that is no longer required,"
As part of this we must support and expand our engineering initiatives. Schemes such as Inspire EDT, Stemettes and ScienceGrrl are all doing great things for the industry, and their growth and success is essential to ensuring that young women have opportunities to see, and perhaps experience, the variety of career paths that are open to them.
Finally the industry as a whole must do more to challenge the stereotypes of what engineers do by making female role models more visible. As an industry we have a duty to ensure success stories of women in engineering are visible to educators, parents and children alike. National Women in Engineering Day has done a great job of raising awareness, providing us with opportunities to showcase the talented women we have in the industry to a wider public platform.
I hope one day that National Women in Engineering Day will be something that is no longer required, that the gender imbalance will be addressed and gender parity achieved. In the meantime, it is essential that industry, government and educators collaborate to address this skills gap and highlight to the young women at school and college today of the long-term, rewarding careers that can be achieved in engineering.
Only when we change perceptions of what it means to be an engineer in the twenty-first century and the opportunities this brings will we see a real transformation occur.