How do we attract more women to engineering?

Research carried out by the BPMA set out to find out more about the important role women are playing in engineering. Suzanne Gill reports.

Data from the Office for National Statistics shows that women now make up 25.6% of the manufacturing sector. This figure has grown over the years but, considering that women represent at least 50% of the total UK workforce, there is still some way to go before we achieve parity of the sexes in the sector.

According to Made Smarter, todays manufacturing industry is almost unrecognisable when compared to how it was in the 1990’s and it claims that many more women are now choosing to pursue a career in the sector. The growth of digital technologies has been credited with helping empower these changes through the introduction of a host of new solutions which have opened up opportunities, and which demand different skillsets to those traditionally required of engineers.

While Made Smarter sees a bright future for women in engineering, it warns that there will be no progress without action. To increase the number of females in the manufacturing sector over the next decade, it says there is a need to instil confidence in women and ensure they are not discouraged. We also need to improve knowledge around manufacturing work and the range of roles available, and must aim to get females on the STEM pathway sooner – sixth form can often be too late. Finally, it is vital to show that manufacturing can support a good work-life/family balance.

The BPMA is keen to work alongside other organisations and partners to help address the engineering skills and diversity challenges within the pump industry and associated trades. The sector does already have a great pool of engineering talent, but to help the BPMA better understand how it can help and encourage member companies to attract and retain more women engineers, it conducted a survey. The results were insightful.

It would appear that the most important drivers for women entering a career in engineering is an interest in knowing how things work and a desire to solve problems and learn new things. Another key factor cited by the survey respondents was having a positive engineering role model and/or a desire to ‘follow in the family footsteps’. So, to some extent the onus is on existing engineers to pass on their excitement and enthusiasm about their job to those around them. A love of maths and science at school was another key indicator for many, which demonstrates that there is also a requirement for teachers and schools to inform their pupils about the many different engineering careers that are available.

When asked about how they got involved in the pumping industry, one respondent, Dounia Bakira of AESSEAL, pointed out that one of the big advantages of engineering is that there is such a wide range of possible careers so the skillsets are highly transferable. She said: “I joined AESSEAL as an applications engineer with responsibility for designing, developing and implementing different solutions for each application. I was attracted by the job description and what it entails. Now, on a daily basis I deal with different customer enquiries, analysing the application details and providing a suitable solution to meet each customer’s needs.”

How did some of the survey respondents enter their engineering career? Nancy Ashburn of Watson Marlow started working in the pump industry in her gap year while looking for work experience, so she first gained an interest in engineering through the pump industry. Meanwhile, Mandy Bailey was the first female engineering apprentice at Mono Pumps (now NOV) leading the way within the company for other women engineers. She said: “I love my current role in engineering as customer care team leader as I get to help fix customers problems while learning something new every day.”

Many other survey respondents have attributed their love of engineering to the fact that they are continually learning and problem solving. Stephanie Allchurch of Altecnic said: “Working in product development I find that no two days are