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Tomorrow’s Engineers Week: “Engineering isn’t just about men in hard hats”

New research by EngineeringUK published to coincide with Tomorrow’s Engineers Week has found that online imagery is reinforcing outdated gender stereotypes in engineering.

Images used by a range of organisations are putting young people off the engineering professions by providing an outdated representation of the sector, says a new study by EngineeringUK.

“Engineering isn’t just about men in hard hats,” said Paul Jackson, chief executive of Engineering UK. “As part of Tomorrow’s Engineers Week 2015 we are calling on all organisations to look carefully at how they represent engineering and stop using these out-dated, gender stereotypical pictures. We need to inspire, not discourage, young people to consider engineering as their future career.”

"We need to inspire, not discourage, young people to consider engineering as their future career.”

Paul Jackson, chief executive, EngineeringUK

Findings from the report show that a third of 11 to 16 year olds found the images used to represent engineering were not relevant to them, and 1 in 10 of the girls interviewed said that the images online had put them off pursuing an engineering career.

Stock image sites and search engines were found to be the worst culprits, majorly lagging behind other sites on gender balance. Image searches for the term “engineer’ found just 26% of search engine results featured women and 25% of stock images contained female engineers. Universities were found to be the best at portraying gender balance in the sector, with 53% of images including a woman and 80% including a male.

One fifth of images feature the stereotypical hard hat - fortifying out-dated opinions that engineering is only about men in hard hats working on building sites as opposed to the full range of careers available to young people today.

Responding to the study Jane Simpson, chief engineer at Network Rail said that the organisation was working really hard to showcase the opportunities and reflect the varied roles of the engineering professions.

“More and more, we’re showcasing the women in our business and the work they do, so others can see people like them are working successfully in engineering.”

Jane Simpson, chief engineer, Network Rail

“As the most senior engineer at one of Britain’s biggest engineering companies I hope I can also inspire others to see the fantastic opportunities engineering offers,” she said. “Our engineers wear hard hats and orange hi-vis to be safe when they are on track or on site, but they also wear business dress because they are designers, electronic specialists or project managers where they are office-based. We are working hard on our website and in careers materials to show both sides of the role to reflect this reality and promote the varied role of an engineer.”

Role models are crucial she said. “More and more, we’re showcasing the women in our business and the work they do, so others can see people like them are working successfully in engineering.”

Jackson reinforced the importance of engineering to the UK. “In the next decade employers will need 1.82m people with engineering skills, meaning we need to double the number of apprentices and graduates entering the industry. We cannot afford to lose would-be engineers by carelessly reinforcing stereotypes and not showing the full scope of exciting careers available.”

The research interviewed 500 young people aged between 11 and 16 and reviewed over 4000 images.

A separate study from the Centre for Economics & Business Research (Cebr) for EngineeringUK has also revealed the financial benefits of becoming an engineer. The new analysis finds the net lifetime earnings premium associated with doing level 3 apprenticeships in engineering, manufacturing and technology is approximately £111,900, one of the highest amongst apprenticeship subject areas. The study also reveals that total employment in the engineering sectors is estimated at 5.6 million, representing one in five (17.2 per cent) of all UK jobs.

This is the third annual Tomorrow’s Engineers Week and is intended to inspire young people, their parents and teachers through a host of activities based around the theme ‘Mission Inspiration’. This will include a schedule of hands-on activities and interactive events and activities run by employers and engineers.

 

If you would like to contact Bernadette Ballantyne about this, or any other story, please email bernadette.ballantyne@infrastructure-intelligence.com:2016-1.