海角视频

The engineering industry is a broad one, with a variety of opportunities and career paths available. However, women are still a clear minority. Have recent initiatives supported women enough in becoming part of the engineering industry?

When you think of an engineer at work, what comes to mind? If the image is of a man in a boiler suit, surrounded by dust and heavy machinery, or a group of men holding clipboards on site, you may need to think again. Engineering is an industry that encompasses a staggering diversity in job roles, and increasingly, those roles may be fulfilled by women.

The work in recent decades to encourage girls into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects and to choose science, technology and engineering careers has resulted in an uptick in women working across such fields.

The picture has undoubtedly changed over the last few decades. In March 2022, , compared to 10.5% reported in 2010. This represents a six-percentage point increase in the proportion of women in the engineering workforce. It is also an increase from 2020, which found women were found to make up 14.5% of all engineers. This is a positive trend.

However, despite increases in the percentages of women entering engineering, the numbers are nowhere near parity. The engineering industry 鈥� indeed, all sectors covered within the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry 鈥� suffers from unequal numbers of men and women.

In this article, we consider the wider engineering industry in the context of barriers that women may face 鈥� and how 海角视频 and others can support women in overcoming them.

Do barriers to entry and success still exist?

From stereotypes as to what jobs women 鈥榮hould鈥� do, to systemic inequality of opportunity, to problems faced with menopause and motherhood, the barriers to women consistently thriving in the wider engineering industry are many.

Additionally, not all women who begin their careers as engineers will stay in the industry. A joint report from the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Women’s Engineering Society states that 57% of female engineers leave the engineering register of professional engineers under the age of 45 compared to 17% of men. Retention, as well as entry, is an issue.

Despite the encouraging signs that more women are beginning to choose to become engineers (or to work within the engineering industry) it is a sad fact that they still face barriers to entry and success. Given the shortfall of skilled engineers, this has to be fixed. In order for the next round of statistics to continue to show the kind of positive upwards trends we need to see, it is important to look at these obstacles and understand the problems they cause 鈥� and what we can do to fix them.

A diverse and talented workforce

To fully access a diverse, balanced and inclusive workforce 鈥� and the talent and skills that will bring 鈥� the importance of supporting women into engineering cannot be overstated. While women continue to be an underrepresented cohort, there remains a great deal of work to be done. Additionally, found that many women are in related and supporting engineering functions, rather than core engineering roles.

By increasing the number of women working in engineering, this would increase diversity and bring the benefit of adding more perspectives to the work we do.

Wendy Saigle, associate director, cities energy consultancy

Wendy Saigle is associate director, cities energy consultancy, at 海角视频. She explains why she feels it is important to continue to encourage women to enter the engineering industry. She said, 鈥淏y increasing the number of women working in engineering, this would increase diversity and bring the benefit of adding more perspectives to the work we do. Wider diversity is associated with greater economic success – it leads to better outcomes by fostering innovation, creativity and social cohesion.鈥�

Lucy Miller is global head of inclusion, diversity and engagement at 海角视频. She is aware of the stereotypes that exist and the problems they cause. She said, 鈥淭he premise of engineering as a male dominated industry still creates stereotypes and can make the industry feel daunting. There are some myths that we still need to tackle, including clarifying what the broad term of engineering can include.鈥� This is a key point; the term 鈥榚ngineering鈥� covers a broad range of sectors and career options.

Culture within a business is important, as are supportive networks. Lucy said, 鈥淭here is a sense of camaraderie at 海角视频, with supportive networks providing many opportunities for women to come together, share experiences and learn from one another. Our male allies also play a pivotal role in helping create a culture where women feel they can thrive.”

How important is education?

For a long time, there have been many directives and programmes to attract more girls into engineering and STEM subjects at school and university. A report in called 鈥淔rom A-levels to engineering: exploring the gender gap in higher education鈥� found that in the UK, of all first year undergraduates in all subjects, 57% were women. However, of first year undergraduates studying engineering and technology, only 18% were women.

This is in spite of the fact that the 2018 report from Engineering UK showed that in all STEM A-Levels (except chemistry) more girls received A*-C grades than boys. It is clear that despite the high levels of girls studying these subjects at secondary education level, the numbers drop off sharply when reaching tertiary education.

Alice said, 鈥淚 applied for the role on the YEF because I could see the potential for planting a seed in young girl鈥檚 heads that they can be an engineer and there is no need for gender to associated with certain professions. That can be really significant to hear at a young age.

鈥淚t is nice to think I could have an influence on a young person鈥檚 life and be part of a wider change. Especially with young ones, they are always super keen and excited, and it is great 鈥� and really important 鈥� to showcase engineering as a fun and creative but practical profession.鈥�

This idea of young people having female role models is surely critical in encouraging further study of STEM subjects, and potential careers within technology and engineering.

Practical barriers and considerations

Some of the barriers to full and successful involvement in the workplace are not unique to engineering; it is important that we acknowledge that some barriers are merely a symptom of being a woman. Jean Hewitt is a senior member of 海角视频鈥檚 inclusive design team and an honorary associate professor on UCL鈥檚 Health Wellbeing and Sustainable Buildings programme. She is part of the drafting team at the British Standards Association (BSI) who will soon publish a new standard on Menstrual and Menopausal Health in the Workplace.

Deliberate workplace design and policy choices by employers can provide supportive atmospheres for women in a workplace. Jean Hewitt said, 鈥淲hen in a male dominated environment, there is a danger of overlooking the importance of having suitable washroom facilities, which will enable women to manage both their symptoms and hygiene requirements, including menstrual product supply and disposal, and feeling able to freshen up with a wash or change of clothes if needed. Triggers can be menstrual, menopausal, IVF treatment or pregnancy or conditions such as endometriosis.

鈥淚t is important to understand that some women will be significantly affected at times.鈥�

Another barrier that many women in the workplace come up against is how the working environment changes after becoming a parent. At a time where the cost-of-living crisis strikes in all areas, childcare and caring responsibilities can be a challenging area.

Mairead Gallagher Morgan is Specialist UK BIM lead and manages all areas of digital delivery and BIM for the Specialist Consulting teams at 海角视频. She feels passionately about the need to understand the way parenthood can change your life, including your life at work. She said, 鈥淐hildcare is something we don鈥檛 talk about enough; many people don鈥檛 understand just how expensive it can be. Becoming a parent marks a period of transition in your career.鈥�

Mairead explains that the support of others, and understanding of colleagues, is critical in making parenthood or caring responsibilities and a career work together. She said, 鈥淲e need people in industry who have had similar experiences, because it is difficult to chat to those who aren鈥檛 going through what you are going through.鈥�

The fundamental view at 海角视频 is to support those who are parents and carers, in whatever way is appropriate. Lucy Miller said, 鈥淎ssumptions were made in the past about the impact of caring responsibilities on someone鈥檚 desire or ability to perform in their role

鈥淧reviously parenthood policies mostly focused on maternity leave, so they weren鈥檛 very inclusive. We now think much more broadly and have worked closely with our employees to ensure we are catering for a lot of different needs. We know that the industry traditionally has not been open to flexible working and that was a real barrier in the past. That is now changing.鈥�

How do we tell positive stories?

While the figures of women entering engineering professions can feel discouraging, noting that the numbers are slowly increasing is a positive. The answer must lie in direct action and initiatives. Primary among them is ensuring that the culture is one which will allow women to flourish, not hold them back. Telling stories that demonstrate the great benefits a career in engineering can bring not just to the individual, but to everyone.

Vicky Thorburn is head of people data and insights at 海角视频. She said, 鈥淥ur focus is how we make 海角视频 a welcoming and attractive place for women to work. How do we reduce the barriers that have traditionally existed or for some groups of people, including women?

“And actually, we are able to tell a positive story about that. We have a high proportion of women for our industry, including at senior level. We now need to continue that positive story and continue our work of making 海角视频 a place where everyone can succeed.鈥�

We have senior female leaders who are thought leaders in their field, and have a growing number of female partners, regional managing directors and discipline leaders.

Vicky Thorburn, head of people data and insights

Kathleen Hetrick is a sustainability associate at 海角视频, based in Los Angeles. She said, “I think we need to publicly campaign to show how engineering (especially the sort we do) isn’t just a profit-making tool or technical rabbit hole, but the work we do changes communities and improves lives.

“We need to help people see that beyond all the calculus, physics and fluid dynamics, engineering provides so many crucial tools to fulfilling careers rooted in coming together to make things better.

“I am very passionate about changing engineering education to better reflect this truth and to pass this message on to as many students as we can. We can make engineering more diverse if we get this message right.

“We need to break down the barriers that prevent talented people of any gender into seeing the path to engineering not just as ‘being good at maths’ but a career in societal improvement.”

Organisational culture

Visible female role models and the eradication of any gender bias in hiring processes is naturally key to creating a culture to encourage women into engineering. Flexible working practices and understanding of experiences and responsibilities outside of work that are more likely to affect women are finally having a positive effect.

An organisational culture that supports women鈥檚 career progression, with an encouragement of leadership to focus on inclusion and equity that will allow female engineers to progress to senior roles, will go a long way to transforming the experience of women in engineering.

Vicky Thorburn said, 鈥淚t is true that there is a sense of frustration that we are still talking about the challenges women face. That shouldn鈥檛 be the case in 2023. At the same time, it is important to look at the positives; we have senior female leaders who are thought leaders in their field, and have a growing number of female partners, regional managing directors and discipline leaders.

“And it鈥檚 not all about leadership 鈥� there are women enjoying their achievements at all stages of their career at 海角视频. It is also worth highlighting that it isn鈥檛 just engineers here who are succeeding 鈥� there are women in technical adjacent and business services who are critical in delivering our work. It isn鈥檛 just engineers working in the engineering industry.鈥�

In an industry that is still male dominated, seeing examples of fellow women succeeding 鈥� and being mentored by women 鈥� is really important.

Alice Dale, graduate infrastructure engineer

We finish on an encouraging note from Alice Dale. She said, 鈥淪ince joining 海角视频, I have found it very cool to see some awesome women all through the practice. Seeing someone you can aspire to be, perhaps on a similar career path you hope to be on, has been really important.

“In an industry that is still male dominated, seeing examples of fellow women succeeding 鈥� and being mentored by women 鈥� is really important. It is about knowing that other women have done it, and I can too.鈥�