BSRIA is recognising the International Women in Engineering Day (INWED) in an attempt to promote the subject to students in schools and universities and encourage more women into engineering
Taking place tomorrow (23 June), International Women in Engineering Day (INWED) is committed to raising the profile and celebrating the “outstanding” achievements of female engineers throughout the world. This year’s theme is ‘Raising the Bar’.
INWED focuses attention on the vast array of career opportunities available to women in engineering.
Engineering continues to be a male-dominated profession so the fifth INWED is a great time to address the problem. With just 13% of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) workers being women, BSRIA is calling on the collected construction industry to help “ignite the passion” of the next generation of scientists and engineers.
The engineering profession has long suffered from a lack of diversity: the UK still has the lowest percentage of female engineers in Europe.
Julia Evans, Chief Executive, BSRIA said: “BSRIA is very supportive of women going into engineering and proud to be employing many female engineers itself who are flourishing.
“This year’s theme is ‘Raising the Bar’ and, indeed, the engineering bar does need to be raised. Clearly, currently not enough is being done to attract women into the industry. BSRIA calls on the collective industry to change the tide on this troubling trend.
“It is worrying that girls as young as five start defining what they can do and often rule things out due to gender. And further along the timeline – young women’s and their parents’ mindsets need to change to recognise that engineering offers a wide range of exciting opportunities and career development. Engineers and scientists touch every part of life.
“History has shown time and time again that those who study science arguably make the largest impact to the world. Incredible minds provide us with incredible ideas we once might have thought of as unbelievable but are now rooted in our society. Engineers help make the future a reality.”
What can we do to restore the balance?
BSRIA’s INSPIRE project running throughout 2018 includes a series of events to inspire and engage the workforce of tomorrow with what the engineering industry has to offer. INSPIRE is based around the STEM subjects.
