麻豆淫院

Women remain significantly underrepresented in UK engineering. At present, women make up only around 15.7–16.9 per cent of the , which could have major implications for the UK’s economy, innovation capacity, equality goals and ability to address skills shortages. It is now more than 30 years since I began my career in the UK steel industry as a graduate mechanical engineer. In this blog post I reflect on my experiences within engineering and explore how these might resonate with science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) initiatives today.

Becoming ‘ingenious’

I never considered engineering as a career option while I was at school. Like many girls, I just didn’t see myself in that kind of role. It was only later, when a motivational speaker from a ‘girls into STEM’ initiative explained that the word ‘engineer’ originates from ‘ingenious’ that I began to rethink: perhaps the stereotype (that girls can’t be engineers) was outdated, and maybe girls could be ‘ingenious’, too. After gaining a degree in mechanical engineering, I began my professional career in the steel industry in Sheffield, England, in 1993. My introduction to engineering was tough; I was one of the only female engineers on a site of more than 800 employees. Despite this, or perhaps because of this, I felt like a pioneer, breaking new ground by simply being there.

Prove-it-again culture

Much of the outreach focus during the 1990s was built on the 1984 WISE (Women into Science and Engineering) campaign, which aimed to tackle the gender imbalance by increasing female participation in engineering. For example, the WISE vehicle programme used converted buses as mobile classrooms to provide girls with an opportunity to explore engineering activities. In addition, many initiatives were aimed at raising the visibility of women already working in STEM; a government campaign, SET (Science, Engineering and Technology), worked with engineering companies to send female engineers as ‘ambassadors’ into schools, to promote engineering as a career choice. However, my own experience suggested a more complex picture. While I was able to build positive relationships with my immediate colleagues, working within the wider sphere was challenging. I felt that as a woman, I had to prove myself repeatedly, and I began to feel I had limited credibility as an engineer. This ‘prove‑it‑again’ bias remains well documented (Williams et al., 2017).

Male workplace culture

In terms of career progression, leadership styles were centred on traditional male norms. I was often sidelined and regularly encountered sexist comments; it was striking that there was an emphasis on me to adapt, rather than the workplace. These observations echo a recent literature review ((Royal Academy of Engineering, 2023). Perhaps the most challenging area to navigate was the existence of informal networks, which provided my male colleagues with a strong social identity but left me excluded.

‘It was striking that there was an emphasis on me to adapt, rather than the workplace.’

There is evidence of a recent change in emphasis, with some engineering businesses aiming to reshape workplace culture using strategies such as mentorship and peer-group coaching (Royal Academy of Engineering, 2023). Although gendered attitudes can be difficult to challenge directly, initiatives like this can help by promoting inclusive networking opportunities and increasing awareness of unconscious bias. I believe this could have made a real difference to my own experience.

Reflections

My early observations still resonate with much of the recent literature; that is, STEM initiatives for women need to be sustained, systemic and evidence based. I feel that the focus now needs to shift, and that future STEM initiatives need to work closely with business leadership to consistently drive a cultural shift, where women’s contributions are valued equally at all levels. What I observed at the time – and I still think now – is that STEM initiatives can only go so far in creating a less hostile workplace culture. Ultimately, responsibility relies on men to consider how their actions influence everyone around them.

More positively, alongside the challenges, my experiences helped me build resilience and adaptability. I benefited from valuable mentorship, camaraderie and the privilege of learning from some very talented engineers. I am so grateful to the motivational speaker who helped me see myself as ‘ingenious’ – and I remain cautiously optimistic about what the next 30 years will bring for future generations of female engineers.

References

Royal Academy of Engineering. (2023). Equality, diversity, and inclusivity in engineering, 2013 to 2022: a review.

Williams, J.C., Li, S., Rincon, R. & Finn, P. (2017). Climate control: gender and racial bias in engineering? Society of Women Engineers & Center for WorkLife Law.