Let’s talk about sex

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Let’s talk about sex

It is hard to believe that in the 21st century and after almost 80 years since women won the right to vote that we still have an issue with gender segregation in the UK. Although women represent approximately half of the total workforce, recent statistics from the Council of engineering UK, show that only 3.5% of registered engineers are female.

Over the last five years gender equality has been a key focus of the skills agenda and a number of initiatives have been developed to encourage more females to consider careers in engineering. Although this work has seen an increase in the percentage of women entering into science, engineering and technology degrees in UK universities, they still only account for 18% of engineering graduates. From those women who study engineering only 25% go on to pursue a career in engineering.

This trend can also be seen in the number of females compared to males successfully placed by Jonathan Lee Recruitment into engineering roles in the last 3 years.

So why is it that engineering is still not seen as a career of choice for women?
Some of the main reasons still include; traditional stereotyping, both by employers and by females themselves – where these roles are still seen to be “masculine” and “dirty”.

Inflexible working practices to accommodate working mothers - in engineering it is perceived that an employee who works part-time is less committed and less career driven than full-time employees.

Finally, a lack of access to good career advice, so females aren’t even aware that a career in engineering is an option for them, as early as when they are choosing their GCSEs.

There are two reasons why businesses need to worry about the lack of female employee representation. Firstly, our organisations need the best! Stereotypical thinking leads us to ignore at least half the potential candidates for recruitment into engineering roles – we are only fishing in half the pool and with the skills shortage in the UK can we really afford to lower our probability of finding the best candidates. Also, a good engineer is a good engineer regardless of gender, ethnic origin or social background.

Secondly, our organisations need diversity in the workforce. Diversity promotes innovation, which enhances competitive advantage. This is extremely important in engineering organisations where change is occurring fast! Key requirements for engineering in the future are agility, flexibility and capability which should evolve as working environments change. These are not gender specific traits.

So we look again to our educational institutions and supporting organisations to provide better information for females in schools, colleges and universities. The work of organisations such as Women into Science, Engineering and Construction (WISE) and Women’s Engineering Society is so important in raising the profile and encouraging more women to consider careers in engineering.

To stay competitive, employers also need to review their working practices and the diversity of their workplace to bring down some of the traditional gender barriers that have no place in today’s industry.

In the UK we have a much lower female engineer ratio compared with the rest of Europe and most other countries like Asia, Mexico, Palestine and Russia - so can we really afford not to talk about sex?

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Let’s talk about sex