Women in Engineering

u-blox's Senior 5G Tech Lead Sylvia Lu has been awarded as one of UK’s Top 50 Women in Engineering by the Women’s Engineering Society (WES), in celebration of International Women in Engineering Day 2019. The list of winners is also featured in The Guardian. The 2019 awards attracted a large number of high-quality nominations from a broad range of industries.

To round-up the interview series dedicated to Inspiring Women in Engineering, in association with International Women in Engineering Day, Farnell here speaks to four women with successful careers in the semiconductor industry, and discusses their role in encouraging and inspire future generations. 

In the UK, only 14% of engineers are female and RS Components believe that is simply not enough.

Jaguar Land Rover has gone into the classroom to encourage more girls to become engineers, as women make up just 11% of UK automotive industry engineers. Research shows just a quarter of girls aged 16-18 would consider an engineering career. Britain’s biggest car maker is committed to inspiring more girls into STEM subjects.

A panel of experts from the worlds of engineering and enterprise have convened at the University of Southampton to discuss the barriers to women’s participation in both environments, in celebration of International Women in Engineering Day. Hosted by the University’s startup accelerator Future Worlds and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and comprising experts from the University of Southampton, the IET and the Future Worlds network, the discussion considered the experiences of women who study and work in engineering, and those who decide to launch their own startups.

Ford celebrates International Women in Engineering Day (INWED) and a centenary of the Women in Engineering Society by hosting 120 year nine girls for a day exploring the possibilities open to female engineers at Ford, as it raises the profile of women in engineering and showcases the diverse career opportunities at Ford.

Yesterday (Sunday 23rd June) saw the return of International Women in Engineering Day. A day that celebrates the women that make a difference in the engineering sector and also highlights the challenges the industry still faces in encouraging young women into an engineering career. In research conducted by Subcon in early 2019, it states that 59% of businesses in the UK believed that enough was being done to encourage women into the industry.  

As we celebrate even more women for International Women in Engineering Day 2019, Selina Johnson, a Hardware Engineer at Imagination Technologies shares her story, when she first realised she wanted to become an engineer and the journey she has been on. Johnson here also talks about the lack of awareness there still is for females in the industry and what we can do.

This year, 23rd June marks the sixth anniversary of International Women in Engineering Day, and 100 years of the Women’s Engineering Society. There’s no hiding from the fact that STEM careers can be a male-dominated world, and with only 15% of engineering graduates being female, it appears there’s still a lot more that can be done to encourage women into STEM. 

This year marks the centenary of the Women’s Engineering Society (WES). Set up the year after partial female suffrage in Britain, WES has been championing diversity in engineering, science and technology since its inception on 23 June 1919. Today, women still only make up about 12% of the professional engineering workforce in the UK, a fact that the Women’s Engineering Society wants to change.