Women in Engineering

According to a recent survey, just 29% of the UK’s manufacturing and engineering workforce is made up of women. Now, while this highlights a step in the right direction when compared to figures from previous years, multi-disciplinary engineering firm, adi Group, believes more must be done to secure the industry’s workforce for tomorrow.

The awards celebrate women working in modern engineering and aim to help change the perception that engineering is predominantly a career for men by banishing outdated engineering stereotypes of hard hats and dirty overalls. As well as highlighting female engineering talent, the IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards seek to find role models who can help address the UK science and engineering skills crisis by promoting engineering careers to more girls and women. Just 12% of those working in engineering occupations are women (source: Engineering UK).

British Science Week, which in 2021 takes place from 8th to 13th March, celebrates the broad range of jobs and careers available in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) industries and promotes STEM to younger generations by providing activity packs and school projects. While children learn the core sciences, like biology, chemistry and physics as part of the curriculum, many are yet to understand how to apply the knowledge to real life situations.

Founded by the Women's Engineering Society (WE50) in 2016, the WE50 awards are a UK event linked to International Women in Engineering Day (INWED) - the celebration of women in engineering that takes place on 23rd June each year.

Despite campaigning for gender parity for more than 100 years, the latest research shows that 49% of managers within the engineering and manufacturing industry believe their industry still struggles with a lack of gender diversity.

WISE believes that greater equality is essential to achieve greater sustainability. The campaign for greater gender diversity in STEM, is calling on employers to build flexibility into the DNA of their policies to create different routes into STEM roles. The call came on the first of WISE’s two day virtual conference; ‘Inclusive growth, transformative action and driving sustainability’.

Three young women engineers have been recognised at the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s (IET) Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards for their work in engineering.

Seeking to help fix societal issues around youth skills development in the STEM sector, engineering business, adi Group marks 2021 with the five-year anniversary of its unique pre apprenticeship scheme. And with the praise of a former Prime Minister, the recognition of a charity backed by HRH The Prince of Wales and the plaudits of a leading engineering society under its belt, it’s safe to say the proposition has had no shortage of support.

Promoting a new way of thinking. Heather Thurlby has launched a female only directory to support and promote female owned and run businesses in the construction and trades. Heather's inspiration for this directory came from a her own personal experience of working within the construction and trade industry, specifically in the heating and engineering sector. But it was born during an unexpected training course she did. She was asked to create a business idea and plan and this is where her journey started.

There are a host of STEM careers outside the traditional academic pathway, giving young scientists more options than they might have initially thought of. Here, experts from the Graphene Flagship European project explore some of the alternatives available.