Windsofchange
WEDNESDAY Project to design turbine is one of many initiatives aimed at encouraging women to opt for a career in the engineering industry
BY MARIA CROCE A GROUP of young women teamed up on an incredible project to encourage more women to become engineers.
Female students in Scotland were given the chance to take part in The Constructionarium Programme – a three-day initiative to design and build a scaled-down version of a wind turbine.
The course ran before International Women in Engineering Day on June 23, which celebrated the work of women in the industry and encouraged more to consider engineering as a career.
Only 15 per cent of engineering students in colleges and universities are women and many who qualify don’t stay in the industry. About 73 per cent of women don’t stay in STEM – science, technology, engineering and maths – careers long-term after graduating.
Emily Rankin, 24, from Edinburgh, is a mechanical engineering student at Edinburgh College and switched from a degree in social sciences.
She said: “I wanted something more challenging and rewarding.
“When I was young, my dad changed his career path and went back to study, so I’ve been able to watch him progress into becoming a mechanical engineer. His job has taken him all over the world and he loves what he does.
“Mechanical engineering was a big change from my previous course and some classes have been difficult but they’ve been interesting and it’s worth the effort.
“Historically, engineering has been a male-dominated industry and I don’t think it has outgrown that stereotype just yet. I’m one of only two females in my class, so there is still an extremely low number of women entering the industry.
“In the past, recruitment has been aimed at male candidates with little consideration for women. It could be a result of long-standing cronyism within the industry.
“But I’d encourage women to go down this career route. It can be intimidating as it’s male-dominated but it’s also very rewarding and not as daunting as many think.
“There are a lot of resources available for extra support. Equate Scotland make things more accessible. You can meet women in the same situation and share experiences.”
Shino Chawash, 22, from Glasgow, a civil engineering student from the University of West of Scotland, also took part in the project. She said: “It was a taster of the sort of work I’d like to do in the future. This was my first placement and I was very grateful to be able to experience the programme and get ready to be an engineer in the real world.”
Dale Lyon, director of Constructionarium Scotland, said: “Over the past few years, we’ve seen a higher proportion of undergraduate women who are studying built environment topics and taking the opportunity to attend our week-long projects with their own universities.”
Talat Yaqoob, director of Equate Scotland, said: “Engineering is such an important and growing sector, with so many opportunities within it, yet women make up only 11 per cent of engineers.
“Gender stereotypes at a young age and maledominated workplace cultures can act as a barrier to women’s participation.”
“We need employers to be bolder in their efforts to create inclusive workplaces to meet both their equality and economic needs.”
www.equatescotland. org.uk