Did you know that only 18% of GCSE girls consider Engineering courses?
AND
Did you know that over 56% of women leave engineering within 10 years?
Why?
I think there are a number of reasons to explain these stats. Schools have been saying for years that they are pushing STEM careers, yet, the engineering career routes that are used as examples are narrowed to aerospace and automotive industries.
What is being missed is that there are engineering jobs in a huge a variety of sectors that aren’t being promoted.
The food industry, logistics, manufacturing… the list of industries who are crying out for engineers just isn’t being talked about enough in education. The perception that these roles involve heavy lifting and physical fitness is unfounded for most roles yet the lack of women in these sectors to provide case studies is narrowing.
The glass ceiling of engineering for females falls into two categories; lack of flexibility and a lack of career opportunities.
It is common knowledge that diverse teams have been proven to out-perform homogenous teams. Yet, the investment that is pouring into STEM at grass roots level isn’t equating to more females being recruited as engineers.
What do you think can be done to improve the uptake and retention of female engineers?
