Comment: Taking action on industry's gender gap

There is no doubt that engineering touches all our lives on a daily basis. Through engineering solutions we will continue to shape our world and find pathways through critical challenges such as the climate emergency. Surely then a career in engineering would be a coveted prize for any young person and anyone would be actively encouraged to take up the engineering profession? Especially as there is an ever-increasing gap in the engineering workforce with a shortfall of hundreds of thousands of qualified people.

As a profession, we are missing a trick on many fronts. We need to do more to enhance the reputation of engineering and highlight its many benefits. This is crucial because technical employers often fail to create sufficiently inclusive workplaces, which hinders our ability to foster and retain the diverse talent that does find its way into engineering.

I’m passionate about improving diversity and inclusion in the round - but for women in engineering in particular. Over the three decades of my career, the number of women in engineering in the UK has merely increased from 7 per cent to 16.5 per cent. At that rate of progress, we would not attain a balanced engineering workforce for another century, at least! More importantly, we would fail to bridge the skills gap and miss out on harnessing the brain power to help find the engineering solutions and innovations of tomorrow that we desperately need.

Despite the overt focus on diversity and the significant amount of STEM outreach conducted by professional engineering institutions, charities, and engineering companies through school programs and competitions, progress in diversity has been slow. Why is this the case? And, more importantly, how can we increase the pace and plug the skills gap?

Having spent five years as President of the Women’s Engineering Society and served as Chair of several industry Diversity and inclusion Committees, I (and many others) have spent a long time researching and trying to answer these questions. Whilst there is no singular solution, there is a suite of initiatives that companies can adopt that will definitely help to increase the pace.

A good starting point is to increase information and advice about engineering careers. Helping women and girls to understand better the purpose and social impact of engineering would enthuse and engage them into thinking that engineering could be a choice for them.

A significant part of this is having visible role models such as current female engineering leaders and, importantly, early career engineers for young people to engage with.

I think it would be unusual for anybody to feel like they are a role model naturally, but in fact, every person is a role model for somebody. They need to be open to connecting and discussing what they do and how they got there.  I have found that the more I talk about engineering and careers, the more people want to know, and the more I can broaden the conversation. This will also help a very influential group of people, the parents, to see engineering as a good career choice for their little girl. Over the last decade, INWED has created a fantastically rich pool of role models and has helped to shine a light on many different career pathways and roles within engineering that women are already thriving in.

We then need to make opportunities more accessible. This can be achieved through a couple of small changes. We must ensure that job adverts and role descriptions do not use masculine language or demand educational backgrounds, experience or requirements which are too specific. A more open approach can only yield a wider pool of potential applicants.

Then we need to do a better job of making our workplaces inclusive so that once we have found that great talent; we can keep it. This will take time and definitely requires more than a 20-minute annual online training course on D&I!

It is about driving intent from the top and doubling down on behaviours and actions that exclude or alienate. This helps to ensure that there is a level playing field of support for all employees and that opportunities are equally open to all.

The only way to check if this is being achieved in any company is to ask the employees and keep checking back and testing. This cannot include positive discrimination for any cohort of employees as that is toxic and prevents progress rather than helping.

Even though progress has been slower than hoped, I remain optimistic that we can increase the pace. There is a keener understanding of the challenges now, and the ever-burgeoning skills gap gives us a sharper focus on casting our net wider to find the talent. Inclusion is key – and ultimately, it helps every employee in any company, not just female engineers.

Dame Dawn Childs is chief executive of Pure Data Centres Group and a former President of the Women’s Engineering

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