What exactly is INWED and why is it so important?
If you’ve been part of the engineering community for a while, you will, undoubtedly, have come across debates revolving around how we can encourage more women into engineering. Despite progress in recent years, we’ve still got a lot further to go if we are to create a more equitable industry.
Recognising this, International Women in Engineering Day was established by the Women's Engineering Society to provide a platform to shine a light on the invaluable contributions of women in engineering. By amplifying the voices of women in the industry, it aims to dismantle barriers and pave the way for future generations of women to pursue this rewarding career.
Last month, I had the pleasure of attending an illuminating panel discussion, hosted by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and chaired by Dr Hayaatun Sillem, CEO of the Royal Academy of Engineering, in anticipation of this year’s event. It featured key insights from panellists Katy Deacon (Chair of the IET Working Party), Dr Susan Scurlock (Chief Executive and Founder of Primary Engineer), Dame Dawn Childs (President of the Women’s Engineering Society), Kristin Baker, (Vice President of Strategy & Business Development at Schneider Electric), and Aleesha Choudhry (Founder of WeSpeak Mentoring, SolutionsPT).
For my column in DPA’s June issue, I explored the importance of inclusion in the workplace, to encourage women to remain in engineering and allow them to thrive. But how do we get them there in the first place?
With this in mind, today, I want to focus on one essential aspect in encouraging women to pursue a career in engineering: role models.
Taking the ‘extra’ out of ‘extraordinary’
First of all, what exactly do we mean by role models? When we think of female role models in the industry, we may think of historical heavyweights such as Ada Lovelace, the first computer programmer (and fun fact: daughter of Lord Byron!), Mary W. Jackson, NASA’s first female African American engineer, or Hollywood actress Hedy Lamarr who pioneered a radio guidance system for the Allies during WWII, paving the way for today’s wireless communication systems.
However, when it comes to inspiring children to pursue engineering, it’s not just about celebrating the extraordinary engineering titans who dazzle the world with their groundbreaking initiatives and innovations. In fact, arguably much more important is the need to shed a light on female engineers from ordinary backgrounds, who simply work hard and find fulfilment in their passion.
As Dr Susan Scurlock commented during the panel: “I think sometimes the idea of being an engineer is that you have to be top of the class, but that leads everyone else feeling as if ‘that’s not me, because I’m not top of the class’. It’s about how we can make kids think ‘actually, I can do that’.”
By allowing everyday engineers the opportunity to go into classrooms and talk to children about their experiences, we can empower children to envision themselves in those roles and cultivate the confidence to pursue their dreams.
The pivotal role parents play
What really struck me about last month’s discussion was the amount of emphasis placed on the influence of parents in shaping a child’s perception of engineering.
Young people don’t make their career choices in a vacuum, and our loved ones can serve as a crucial source of inspiration. Having family members already associated with engineering, or other STEM subjects, often opens up the door for a career in the field. Whether it was from attending ‘take your daughter to work day’ in a factory, or helping their mechanic father work on cars, almost all of the panellists cited their parents as fundamental influences.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, if parents lack an understanding of engineering, their daughters are less likely to pursue the subject. Traditionally, many parents' perception of engineering as being dull, dirty and dangerous – as providing unsuitable work environments for women – has posed a significant setback for encouraging more women into the field.
From my own perspective, no one in my family had any kind of engineering experience, and since I wasn’t taught the subject in school either, I had no concrete concept of what exactly an engineer even was. And that is a problem that continues to plague the industry. How can we encourage women to pursue engineering if it is never presented to them as a viable option?
Consequently, I would argue that we not only need to make engineering appealing to children themselves, but also to dismantle the often ill-informed beliefs of their parents. That’s why we need more programmes that specifically educate parents on what engineering really entails.
Shifting focus
One final thing that arose from the discussion was the need to shift focus away from the challenges of being a woman in a male-dominated industry and instead to shine a light on the positives.
Of course, the reality of being a woman in the engineering workplace today is a multifaceted experience, encompassing both positive and challenging aspects. Aleesha Choudhry highlighted the imbalance in her team, where she is the only woman – and certainly the only woman of colour. This lack of representation can create a sense of isolation and make it challenging for women to find relatable role models or connect with colleagues who share similar experiences.
However, all of the panellists – including Aleesha (who has created her own mentoring programme to connect women in developing countries with professional female engineers from all around the world) – also emphasised that, overall, they find their experience of working as a female engineer extremely positive.
Going back to the importance of role models, Dawn emphasises the need for women who are already working in the industry to demonstrate to aspiring female engineers just how rewarding the job can be: “Part of the problem are the original role models in the 80s and 90s, who, even though they loved their jobs, were always being asked about the challenges and what’s hard about them. There was a dialogue about how difficult it is for a woman to be an engineer, but we need to get past that. Yes, the challenges are difficult, we [also] need to talk about the great stuff.
“We need to talk about how, even with those challenges, it was worthwhile moving past them to have the careers that we’ve got. There are positive role models now who, because of the work that we’ve done, don’t have those same challenges.
“We need to stop focusing on the negative aspects,” she concluded. “We need to get the positive stories out there and move the conversation away from how hard, how difficult, and how horrible it is to how amazing, how life-changing, how many problems we can solve.”
Highlighting success stories, celebrating achievements, and showcasing the contributions women make in this field can inspire future generations and dismantle stereotypes. And to be fair, there is a lot to celebrate. As Dawn emphasised, “In the 80s and 90s, when I first joined engineering, the progress was around one percent a decade. From 2015 to now, we’re making as much progress a year as we were making in a decade previously.
So, Dawn said, International Women in Engineering Day is about “giving women in engineering a platform, shedding a light on the roles available, allowing role models to be showcased, and getting energy to solve this diversity challenge, fix the skills pipeline, and get that innovative thinking to help us solve significant real-world problems that engineers are best suited to solve.”
International Women in Engineering Day serves as a reminder of the progress made and the work that still lies ahead. Celebrating the achievements of women in the field provides tangible evidence that women can thrive and excel in this field. Let us heed the call to action, empower change, and unlock the true potential of women in engineering, for a brighter and more equitable future.
Queen Elizabeth Prize of Engineering opened its gallery in the world-famous Science Museum, in June 2023. The exhibition, which is called ‘Engineers’, is designed to show families, teachers and school children that this is what engineering is, this is how engineers change the world. It could be you.
Find out more here.