Female engineers urge industry awareness for young women

Young women are not aware of the career opportunities in the engineering sector, according to 71.7% of female engineers. 

With National Women in Engineering Day now upon us (23 June), it has emerged that nearly three-quarters (71.7%) of female engineers don’t believe young women are being made aware of the abundant career opportunities available in the sector, which is significantly damaging the pipeline of female talent.

This is according to a study by independent job site, CV-Library, which asked over 500 female engineers to share their views on opportunities in the sector for women. It also revealed that over half of respondents (56.5%) felt that engineering was still viewed as a ‘male’ profession. Furthermore, 92.5% stated that more women would want to work in the sector if they were taught about it from an early age. The female engineers surveyed believe the following actions should be taken to eliminate gender inequality: promotion within the education system; raising awareness of opportunities; profiling role models in the sector; and actively promoting diversity.

Lee Biggins, Founder and Managing Director of CV-Library, commented on the findings: “There are great opportunities in the sector for women, but we regularly notice a severe lack of female candidates applying to engineering roles. For example, in the last six months we had over 105,000 engineering jobs advertised on the site, which received over 2.1 million applications. However, only 9.2% (202,666) of those came from female applicants.  

“It’s clear that changes need to be made further down the education system to entice women into the sector. In the meantime I’d encourage organisations in the industry to use National Women in Engineering Day as a platform to support equal opportunities, diversify their recruitment strategies and promote the great careers that they have on offer to female engineers.

Narina Sekhon, Project Coordinator at the Women’s Engineering Society, added: “The findings from CV-Library uncover the realities of what it’s like for many women to work in the sector. But, despite the fact that engineering is still a male-dominated industry, there are plenty of fantastic opportunities for women to embrace.”