Call for firms to encourage more women into engineering
THE Welsh economy would benefit significantly from helping more women pursue careers in engineering.
Cerys Furlong, chief executive of Chwarae Teg – the body that helps women realise their full potential in the workplace – has called on Welsh firms to do more to support women in the sector.
She said women continue to be under-represented in engineering despite high performance in STEM subjects at school.
The engineering sector contributes over 26% to UK GDP every year and offers some of the most secure and high-paid jobs. But Ms Furlong said women are missing out on these opportunities – making up only 11% of the UK engineering workforce and less than 10% of engineering professionals (the lowest percentage in Europe, compared to 30% in Latvia).
Ms Furlong said: “At the moment, we’re facing a huge skills gap in Wales and across the UK, with claims that the number of engineering graduates needs to double by 2020 to meet demand.
“More women engineers can help to plug this gap and Chwarae Teg is working with the sector to make engineering jobs more accessible to women in the first place. At the moment, only around 11% of engineering companies offer flexible working and we want to help businesses to lead a change in this.
“Chwarae Teg wants to show women and girls that they should never feel that their ambition has to be limited by their gender,” she added.