Who runs the world? Girls! - Women Empowering Engineering

In 2009, I was set to finish my Applied Mathematics Leaving Certificate paper by the end of this week. Now I’m watching my little sister revise applying Newton’s Laws for tomorrow, and can see there has been a shift towards the demand for engineering courses as she signs off her CAO with Computer Science.

The number of applicants for Engineering & Technology courses has increased by 36% in that time, with first preferences for these courses augmenting by 42%. In addition, today celebrates Women in Engineering Day in the UK!

I commenced my engineering career at UCD’s School of Chemical & Bioprocess Engineering seven years ago. This year coincidentally celebrates 60 years of graduates from the school, showing the consistent and growing need for engineers in the field. While my course did have a few more females compared to other courses at the time, mechanical engineering was comprised of approximately three female students to seventy male students.

Looking at engineering in a broader sense over the past years, it is evident that many new courses are being offered. Biomedical engineering has been introduced for our booming medical devices industry, while energy engineering puts its focus on renewables. Did someone mention rocket science? Yes, aerospace engineering is another one. The need for engineers extends to production plants, businesses and utilising those problem solving skills indirectly for example in the finance sector.

Engineering however isn’t something new, it has been around since the beginning of mankind and women have gradually been an influence. Think back to Emily Roebling, technical leader for the Brooklyn Bridge. Or Beulah Louise Henry, who created a doll with flexible arms and (not to sound too girly) a typewriter to produce multiple copies without carbon paper.

As an engineering recruitment consultant, the current economic climate is depicting a candidate market for engineers with a wealth of opportunities, and there could be more, innovative female engineers out there. Having a day like this to celebrate women in engineering and to encourage women to think about this career path is vitally important.

We all have the curiosity in us, some more so than others. This is particularly visible in children. Doesn’t every child question, boy or girl? How does that aeroplane fly? Why do snakes have no arms? Why? Why? Why? Ensuring that mathematics and science is encouraged and taught well from an early age will gauge these questions. The STEPS programme from Engineers Ireland is a good example of an initiative in place.

In terms of what women bring to engineering, like any working team, diversity is essential. Diversity doesn’t mean the obvious balance of men and women but a group of different skills, work ethics and habits that in union are going to create something of importance to society; a breakthrough in medicine, the use of AI to shape and yield a more efficient society bettering our lives etc. With more need for engineers both female and male, it’s removing the traditional image of the career as a male-orientated one that will build a more diverse engineering workforce and new skills and attributes to the table.

Having worked with other women in engineering, what has struck me is our curiosity about how things work and the feeling of contribution to something important. Let’s celebrate our women in engineering and on that note, who runs the world? Girls!