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This weekend the
world celebrated International Women’s Day and what
better opportunity to discuss how far the world has come in its views of women.
As the famous
song goes, ‘It’s a man’s world!’ but almost five decades later, is
this still the default thinking?
Statistically,
sectors like engineering and infrastructure are still largely male dominated
and sadly there also still seems to be the slightly lazy assumption that women
are not as well suited as
men when it comes to working in engineering or construction.
By 2020, it has
been predicted that 2.79 million jobs will become available within UK
engineering companies, 1.86 million of which will require engineering skills,
but how many of these will be occupied by women?
Currently at
higher education, a tiny fifth of students who take physics at A-Level are
girls, a story that has been repeated for the past 25 years or more. The sad
reality is that many youngsters think gender is a barrier when it comes to
careers in construction and engineering. A worrisome fact considering these
sectors are in fact in high demand.
It’s clear to see that more needs to be done to highlight the benefits of
working in engineering and construction most especially to young women.
Thankfully initiatives like the WISE campaign are doing their bit to help the
gender divide in previously male dominated sectors. By encouraging women and
young girls to study STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering and
mathematics, the hope is that the female presence in such sectors will increase
from the current 13% to 30% within the next five years.
Looking at the
female-sparse engineering sector as it stands today, it’s hard to believe that after the Great War, women were fighting to keep these same
engineering roles that many women are discounting today. During World War I,
many women worked in engineering while their brothers, partners and spouses were fighting in the war. Doesn’t it seem a shame that the efforts and talents of these women have
largely been lost?
Educating young
people about the benefits of STEM subjects and the engineering sector should be
a top priority for all especially following the UK’s current skill crisis.
With initiatives such as International Women’s Day, it is still apparent that we all need reminding of the importance
of equality. For me, there is no difference in ability across genders. At
Texane two of our three owners are women as well as 50% of our middle managers
and isn’t it about time we employers started
to walk the talk and show this sector that it is not gender specific. If a man
can do it, a woman can do it too.
Diverse teams
have been proven to get better results and we’re proud to say we have the proof where that’s concerned. Let’s step up the drive to get more
women into engineering as a nation and here’s hoping that 2015 will be the year more women take a chance on a sector
they might have previously overlooked!