Women In Engineering

Last Thursday I organised a women in engineering dinner for the Engineers Without Borders (EWB) Nottingham Society, where we invited a number of employers from various industries.

We also had a special guest, Nicola Randles who took us through her career journey since graduating from Cambridge university with a Chemical Engineering degree. During this event I gave a speech which explained my motivation for organising this event.

I shared my story to show that there is a need for change! Now I am going to share this with you to raise awareness for the importance of taking actions to increase the number of women in engineering!

Did you know that only 9% of the engineering workforce are females? UK has the lowest number of engineers in whole of Europe! Only 15.8% of the UK’s engineering and technology undergraduates are females!

I was shocked (as you probably are) when I first read these facts despite knowing that there aren’t many girls in the engineering courses at my university! Then I thought about the time when I was in school:

I never even considered studying engineering at university. I always looked at it as a “subject suitable for guys”. My grades for Maths and Science if not the highest, was at least in top 3 of the highest in my class. Yet I never even thought about studying engineering!

My ideal profession was something along the lines of medicine, and other healthcare related professions as this was the only way I knew of making a positive impact in the world. I spent 3 months, during the summer of my year 12 volunteering in hospitals and care homes around London to prepare for studying medicine at university. During this time, I realised that I had no interest in medicine whatsoever.

When it was time for me to apply to university, I had no idea what I wanted to study because my summer work experience was not what I expected, I couldn't stand working in hospitals! I went to see my chemistry teacher to ask for advice. He knew that I was really passionate about Maths and Chemistry so he said why don’t you study Chemical Engineering?

At first I was shocked that someone had even suggested to a girl like me to study engineering! That evening when I went home, I searched what do engineers do? and the search results was this:

“Engineers apply the principles of Science and Mathematics to develop economical solutions to technical problems. Their work is the link between scientific discoveries and the commercial applications that meet societal and consumer needs. Many engineers develop new products.”

Then I searched what do chemical engineers do? and the search results was this:

“Chemical engineers develop and design chemical manufacturing processes. Chemical engineers apply the principles of chemistry, biology, physics, and mathematics (now I know there is hardly any Chemistry and Biology involved!) to solve problems that involve the production or use of chemicals, fuel, drugs, food, and many other products.”

Then I thought to myself it’s like they’ve created this courses specifically for me! I always had a desire to invent and create new things and problem solving was one of my greatest strength! 

I decided to apply to Nottingham University and study Chemical Engineering. In my third year of university, I was elected as the president of EWB. During one of the STEM workshops which we organised in a local school in Nottingham, we undertook two presentations about pharmacy and engineering for a group of year 8 students.

At the end of the presentations, I told the students that they should find out more about engineering if they like Science and Maths and want to create positive impact in the world. Specially for girls as they tend to achieve the highest scores for these subjects in school.

One of the girls said to me “sorry but isn’t engineering more for guys?!” and there I realised that after so many years of leaving school, people still have the same stereotype on these subjects!

For a moment I imagined myself if I went on to study a subjects other then engineering how different my life would have been…..I would be on a totally different path and perhaps the wrong one! That girl’s dreams was also at risk of being crushed due the stereotype of society on who can and who cannot be an engineer!

Now I know why only 9% of engineers in industry and 15.8% of undergraduate engineering students are females!

The root cause starts from secondary and primary schools where even teachers encourage boys more to study engineering and girls to be doctors, nurses, teachers etc.

In order to change this stereotype, not only our education system needs to change but also companies and industries need to take action towards changing the society's stereotype of engineering and encouraging more girls to go into this profession. 

Taking part in events and activities to encourage more female graduates to go into engineering careers is only a small step towards achieving this goal. By holding events and activities to provide role models for girls who don’t have female engineer role models in their families to aspire too (such as myself) we can start to wipe out the stereotype of engineers in the society.

It is also important to note that women in engineering is not a matter which concerns the female populations only, guys also play a major part in this issue. 

As a matter of fact it is even more important for guys to engage in bringing about change to the society because in order to change this stereotype we need to change everyone’s thinking and vision on engineering not just the girls!

If we are not attracting enough girls into engineering, then we aren't going to be producing many engineers! at a very time in our nation's history when we are under increasing pressure to maintain an innovative edge in the world economy, and to solve complex and challenging technical problems. 

If we want to solve these complex and challenging problems we need a diverse team, people of different genders, races, socioeconomic classes and etc. Research shows if you want to come up with a very innovative solution to a very challenging problem, then a diverse team will triumph a team of experts every time!