National Women in Engineering Day was launched for the first time in the UK on 23 June 2014 by the Women’s Engineering Society (WES) to celebrate its 95th anniversary. Since that launch in 2014 the day has grown enormously over the subsequent years to the point where it received UNESCO patronage in 2016.
The campaign aims for Women (and men) all over the globe to help to raise the profile of women engineers and encourage more people to consider engineering as a profession for all.
Today WES is a membership organisation which has the following three objectives:
Women: Support women to achieve their potential as engineers, applied scientists and leaders and to reward excellence.
Education: Encourage and promote the education, study and application of engineering.
Sustainability: Work with organisations and influencers to promote gender diversity and equality in the workplace and sustain the historic legacy and future effectiveness of the Women’s Engineering Society.
Professor Elena Rodriguez-Falcon, President and Chief Executive, NMITE, said: “Where I come from, Monterrey Mexico, engineering is part of life. It’s a very successful industrial and manufacturing city. So, studying engineering made sense if I wanted to get a job.”
“I’d like to see greater numbers of engineers, more diverse and gender balanced engineers enter the workforce. Engineering should reflect the world we live in and make of ‘difference’ a strength.”
Carl Arntzen, Worcester Bosch CEO, said: “‘The Heating and Plumbing industry has been under-represented by women for many years however, this is changing rapidly.”
“We see still an overwhelming amount of male engineers and installers but now women are starting to see how attractive this industry can be, particularly with the net zero carbon targets the government has set for 2050.”
Women now account for just over 10% of engineering professions (Wise Campaign). There are over 50,000 women in engineering professional roles – almost double the number 10 years ago. National Women in Engineering day looks to celebrate this increase and also look to grow this number and aims to increase the accessibility of the engineering sector to women.
For further information on this subject please do visit The Women’s Engineering Society website.