For a long time, engineering has long been considered a male-dominated field, with women consistently underrepresented in its ranks.
According to a report published by Engineering UK – it was stated that Women make up 16.5% of all engineers, which was actually a 6% increase from 10.5% reported in 2010 – this figure is shocking and needs to change.
Despite progress in breaking gender barriers across various professions – the lack of women in engineering still remains a significant issue till this day.
In the past, cultural opinions reinforced the idea that certain professions, including engineering, were more suitable for men.
As a result – women faced numerous barriers in pursuing careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields.
Despite advancements in gender equality, women continue to encounter various challenges in the field of engineering. Stereotypes and biases persist – leading to a lack of encouragement for young girls to pursue STEM education.
However, in recent years – the industry has started to change. More women are entering the sector, there are support groups and most importantly – conversations are now taking place, ultimately changing the societal perception that a career in STEM is just for men.
To get a real insight into why society has such a perception, and how women are slowly to enter the engineering industry – Our journalist, Owais Hussain, sat down with Helen Welch CEng MCIBSE – Principal Mechanical Engineer at Hoare Lea, Harriet Morphew, Building Services Engineer at BSE3D Consulting Engineers Ltd and Francesca James, Consulting Engineer at FairHeat.
When asked about how they all got into the sector.
Helen responded: “I’ve been in engineering now for 25 years now. I was originally planning to do architecture when I was at school. The building services course ran alongside the architecture one at Liverpool University so that’s how I found out all about it – because it wasn’t discussed at all in school.”
Francesca then added: “I’ve been working in building services for just over 2 years, I came into the industry by stumbling across it – I liked maths and science at school, and I felt like I was pushed down that route, because I was a girl who liked maths and science. So, I then studied chemical engineering at university, and I don’t think that through school or university that building services came up as a career. When I was looking for jobs, I came across my current role, which is working in heat networks and since I’ve been in it – I love it,”
Harriet then added: “I’ve been in the industry 7 years now; I didn’t really plan on coming on to this – I wasn’t really 100% what I wanted to do so I took a gap year and came to work here in admin and after 3 or 4 weeks I thought this is ‘alright’ but what everyone else is doing looks interesting. I then had a meeting with the director, and I ended up transferring to an apprenticeship scheme on the engineering side. I did a higher degree apprenticeship which took 4 and a half years – which was for me, straight out of school was a good route as I got to learn the technical and knowledge at university as well as learning the day-to-day workings of the industry.”
When asked how they think the engineering field benefits from having a diverse workforce, including more women – they added:
Helen added: “Certainly, in the work I do – the end user is not just a man, it’s a male and female. So being able to give that view from both genders is very important to get an all-around well-designed building – it’s certainly something we look at when completing projects.”
Harriet then added: “Little things, so many times when we’ve done a hotel bedroom – they ask ‘why have you got the socket there in the room’ then say ‘we’ve already got one there in the corridor’ – well that’s next to the mirror, that’s something I’d need. You might not think of something like that because it’s all about the life experiences you can draw on which makes up a cohesive design that’s going to benefit everyone.”
Francesca added: “I think the obvious answer is that we need more women, because we don’t have enough engineers. We have a skills gap in heat networks, we need an unbelievable amount of people in the next couple of years – and if we’re only targeting 50% of the population – it’s not enough.”
When asked what advice they would give to young women who are considering a career in engineering but may be hesitant due to stereotypes or societal exceptions?
Helen: “I would definitely say, look for some mentors and don’t be afraid to contact people – we’re more than happy to speak to you about what we do, and I think that building services engineering varies – there’s so many specialisms you can go into. So perhaps, look around to see what’s involved within the job. I’m a mechanical engineer, but there’s acoustic, there’s fire- there’s all sorts…. I think it’s reading around the subject, finding people to speak to, asking your school if they have any contacts you can speak to, I’d suggest.
Francesca added: “I think if someone isn’t going into a certain field because they think they aren’t good enough or they think other people know more than they do – it’s definitely something I had when leaving school and going to university. I had imposter syndrome; I didn’t really know what it was and when you know what it is your like everybody feels this way – or most people feel this way, and most women feel this way – we’re much more likely to doubt ourselves.”
What are some misconceptions about women in engineering which need to be addressed to encourage more inclusivity in the field?
Helen added: “I think the obvious one in construction is the physical side. The jobs we do in engineering, it’s very much a design-based industry – which is quite a creative industry as well. Perhaps people look at construction and think the hard labour side of it, but actually, there’s so many roles within a construction site with lots of different sort of abilities that are needed and it’s not just the physical side, there’s a lot more involved in all the different roles.”
In conclusion, there is still a low percentage of girls that choose STEM based subjects for A levels.
STEM Ambassadors in schools that Harriet talked about being involved in with for CIBSE are very important to address this.
Details of the CIBSE scheme can be found here: www.cibse.org/get-involved/volunteering/cibse-stem-ambassadors CIBSE is very keen to promote the STEM Ambassador scheme and is looking for more engineers to get involved with it.
