JMS - Why the UK needs to be more inclusive when it comes to women in engineering

According to a recent study carried out by the Womens Engineering Society, just 12.37% of all engineers are women in the UK*.  This is a slight rise from 9% in 2015, but still significantly lower than every other country in Europe. Latvia, for example, is the current leader, with 30% of their engineering workforce being female.

Meanwhile, one of the difficulties we (alongside many other firms in the engineering industry) face, is the simple fact that recruiting people with the right skills and qualifications can sometimes be difficult. In fact, current estimates suggest that there is currently a shortfall of the right engineering skills in the region of 25,500 people. That means, to fill this shortfall, we would need the current volume of students taking up engineering degrees to double.

You don’t need a maths degree to do know how this problem can be resolved. So what barriers are holding women back from engineering? After all, female engineers are extremely happy in their careers (with 84% either happy or extremely happy with their career choice).

It’s likely a mixture of gender stereotypes, concerns about pay parity, and social assumptions. What you can be sure it isn’t about, is talent and ability. Girls regularly outperform boys at A-level in all STEM subjects (except Chemistry), for instance.

From our point of view? We want to see more female engineers at JMS. We want to see more equality in our ranks, and are eager to do our part in bringing that lowly12.37% figure more into line with the likes of Latvia, and even move beyond that. But most of all, we do not want to see engineering talent wasted because of gender stereotypes that are not only outdated, but may ultimately harm our industry by leaving a huge skill gap. So let us do our part in changing the landscape for women in Engineering.

Please visit our careers page to find out more about our current vacancies.

*www.engineeringuk.com/research/engineering-uk-report/