Perry salutes Crossrail for developing female engineers

Crossrail has been hailed by Rail Minister Claire Perry for its role in attracting more women into engineering, and she has urged the UK infrastructure industry to follow suit on future transport projects.

Speaking at a ‘Women Delivering Crossrail’ event at the House of Commons on January 19, Perry highlighted how almost a third of the project’s workforce is female (compared with 11% of employees across the construction industry, including office-based roles), and that 6% are engineers.

“Crossrail has led the way in getting more women involved in building vital infrastructure, boosting female representation in the construction workforce, and creating role models to inspire the next generation of engineers and construction workers,” she said.

“With our investment projects like HS2, opportunities in construction for women will continue to grow, and I hope these build on Crossrail’s best practice.”

Crossrail has challenged the language used on site, connected its female role models with young girls forming career plans, and visited schools and careers events as it seeks to change industry perception for women.

It has also formed a close partnership with the Women into Construction organisation.

Crossrail Chairman Terry Morgan said: “Crossrail has provided hundreds of young people with the opportunity to learn their trade on Europe’s largest infrastructure project, and will go on to build a career delivering future projects.

“To deliver this unprecedented number of projects it is vital we increase the number of women in the industry. All of us, from teachers and parents to chief executives and industry leaders, need to do more to help women make the most of the exciting career opportunities on offer.”