Women Under-Represented in Engineering Sector

Women account for only 7 percent of the professional engineering workforce in the UK and less than 4 per cent of engineering technicians.

According to the Institute for Public Policy Research the key to getting more women into engineering is to make it an attractive option for girls from an early age and to keep repeating this message throughout their education and in their lives outside of school.

In Ayrshire, there are a variety of apprenticeships and oppertunities in the field that are open to both men and woman and Ayrshire College have been working with local authorities to try an encourage girls into the roles.

In June, Nearly forty female pupils from East Ayrshire schools came together at the College for an insight into the opportunities available for young women.

The trip was organised as part of National Women in Engineering Day - which took place on 23 June

It aims to celebrate the achievements of women in engineering and encourage more girls to consider a career in the industry.

The third year pupils – from Cumnock Academy, Loudoun Academy, and St. Joseph’s Academy – took part in activities across the Construction & Trade, Engineering & Science, Automotive Vehicles and Computing departments at the Kilmarnock campus.

Ayrshire College had their lecturers and current female apprentices on hand to talk the groups through the various demonstrations and explain why engineering could be the right career path to go down.

A number of the pupils said after the event that the workshops had been a real eye-opener and they were now going to seriously think about a career in engineering.

Marla Baird, Equality and Inclusion Manager at Ayrshire College, said “It's really important because we know females are underrepresented in the STEM areas. It’s about showing the young women that there’s a whole range of careers within the sector. It’s to make them think a bit wider about what their career choice is going to be.

"I think quite often there's a mind set - from parents as well - about what is men and what is womens work. But when the girls come along I think they are surprised about they can do and the range of jobs avalible in the engineering sector."

Marty Anderson, Ciriculum Manager for Engineering and Science at the College also added: "There's really not alot of jobs that require such heavy lifting that a woman would struggle. I think any job open to a man is also open to a woman in engineering."

Last month, after a photo of software engineer Isis Anchalee appeared on a recruiting ad for her employer OneLogin, she received numerous sexist comments online about female engineers.

So the 22-year-old “self-taught engineer, extreme introvert, science-nerd” wrote a blog post to highlight the issues women in science, technology and engineering jobs face.

She said that most people in the industry are well intentioned “but genuinely blind to a lot of the stuff that those who do not identify as male have to deal with.”

Anchalee then invited those who “do not fit the cookie-cutter mold” to help redefine “what an engineer should look like” under the hashtag #ILookLikeAnEngineer.