The number of female engineers is increasing year on year but females still only currently account for 11 per cent of the workforce in engineering; there is definitely still a long way to go to achieve a gender balance in our industries. Industry and government are both working to break the stigma that ‘engineering is for boys’, and showing the breadth and reward a career in engineering can give to both women and men.
We aim to highlight the work of women in engineering and the efforts being made to boost the representation of females in our industries:
- For International Women in Engineering Day 2018 we spoke with female engineers from some of our member companies – MBDA, BAE Systems and Aeromet. Read more about how they got into engineering and what they like about their jobs.
- Almost 22,000 qualified female engineers fail to reappear after a career or maternity break. Sue Partridge, Head of the Wing of Tomorrow Programme at Airbus, spoke about why flexibility and conversations within companies are important to enable women to return to work. Read more about her experience of returning to work.
- At Farnborough International Airshow 2018, we saw the launch of the Women in Aviation and Aerospace Charter, which reflects the aspiration to see gender balance at all levels across the industry by both women and men in the sector.
- In September 2018, signatories of the Women in Aviation and Aerospace Charter discussed ten ways to get more women into the industry and into more senior positions.
- Girls in Aviation Day encouraged more women and girls to pursue careers in aviation and aerospace.
- Read about why women are good for business.
- The Women in Aviation and Aerospace Charter had a good start to 2019, gaining even more signatories and holding a seminar at Flybe.
- Working to decrease the gender gap in STEM on the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.
- Recently ADS Member Boyden published a report entitled “Furthering Female Leadership”, looking to accelerate diversity in leadership.
- Episode 5 of the ADS Podcast focuses on the Women in Aviation and Aerospace Charter and why it’s so important to increase gender parity in our industries.
- For National Apprenticeship Week 2019, we featured Billie, Sarah, Nicola, Daisy, who are all female apprentices in our sectors.
- For International Women’s Day 2019, we featured four inspiring women in our sectors.
