International Women in Engineering Day – June 23rd
National Women in Engineering Day was launched back in 2014 by the Women’s Engineering Society (WES) to celebrate the launch of its 95th anniversary. They aim to celebrate the amazing achievements of female engineers and promotes the vast amount of career opportunities that are available to the female workforce as well as men. In 2017, they took a bigger step when it became international for the first time due to the interest that was developed by an international audience.
2017 saw a huge success with record levels of engagement and reach. 150 separate events were registered including 18 international events, which involved countries such as Brazil, Mauritius and Uganda.
June 23rd, 2018 marks the 1st anniversary of International Women in Engineering Day (INWED). With the huge success of 2017s day, this year the theme is ‘Raising the Bar’. The theme is a direct approach at making more people aware of the importance of women in these roles, therefore this year they want to encourage more people to get involved. Targeting groups such as the government, education groups, professional engineering institutions, young people’s groups, the press and many more.
Here are a few statistics taken by WES in January 2018 which highlight the importance of making a change now.
- 11% of the engineering workforce is female.
- The UK has the lowest percentage of female engineering professionals in Europe, at less than 10%, while Latvia, Bulgaria and Cyprus lead with nearly 30%.
- 1% of engineering undergraduates in the UK in 2017 are women. Compare with India: where over 30% of engineering students are women.
- In 2015/16 women accounted for only 6.8% of Engineering apprenticeship starts and 1.9% of Construction Skills starts.
- 61% of engineering employers say a recruitment of engineering and technical staff with right skills is a barrier to business.
Highfield fully support women in engineering and work with local schools to inspire the next generation of engineers, both male and female, as we recognise fully the benefits of a diverse workforce.
Keep your eyes on our twitter to see us celebrate the achievements of some incredible women engineers, or drop us a tweet @highfieldrec if you have a female engineer you would like to celebrate.