Bridging the gender gap...
A female engineer who played a pivotal role in the construction of Sunderland’s stunning Northern Spire bridge has been honoured as one of Britain’s best.
Amy Wright, a Senior Site Engineer at Farrans Construction, was a finalist in the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Young Woman of the Year Awards 2018.
Amy, 28, from Houghton, was one of six female engineers to make it through to the national final.
Now working in Belfast for Farrans Construction, she was a member of the core team working on the construction of Northern Spire for three years before it opened to traffic at the end of August last year.
She has also worked tirelessly to promote engineering to thousands of students in the region, running workshops, giving lectures, organising site visits to Northern Spire and creating the Inspire competition, amongst other initiatives.
“Women are hugely underrepresented in engineering and on building sites, in particular,” she said.
“The more we make ourselves visible, the more normal it becomes to see women in these roles and every little helps to try and redress the lack of diversity within the industry.
“Although I didn’t win, I was still delighted with the honour to stand beside the other amazing finalists.
“My award application focussed very much on working on the bridge and the impact this will have on my home town and they produced a brilliant video to reflect this.”
Jo Foster, Diversity and Inclusion Manager at the IET, said: “Engineering is a fantastic career, but the lack of women in the sector is a huge problem.
“The difficulty in attracting women into engineering is down to a combination of things, including the image of engineers within the UK, careers advice girls are given in schools and the way that companies with engineering roles advertise their opportunities.
“It’s also a result of the lack of engineering role models for girls, which is why our awards are all about finding role models to get girls – and young people in general – excited and inspired about engineering.”