Behind the photos: We’re breaking glass ceilings
These three women have tackled stereotypes to get to where they are today, paving the way for other women to smash barriers, too
‘I refused to let the gender gap stop me’
Sophie Harker is an engineer, as well as a charity founder and volunteer dance teacher. She lives in Blackpool. Sitting at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, while on a family holiday aged 16, I watched a video about astronauts on Mars, and the tagline read, ‘This could be you.’ I knew in that moment, it really could.
I’d always had an interest in space, and while studying Mathematics at University of Nottingham a few years later, I won a prize and consequently met Dr Helen Sharman, the first British citizen in space.
‘If you want to became an astronaut, have a look at Engineering,’ she’d said. So I tailored my degree to Applied Mathematics, which is very similar to Engineering.
It didn’t take long to realise how few women were taking the same career path. There were more male astronauts across the world, just as there were more men in most science and engineering jobs, but that didn’t deter me. It made me determined to change it.
Into the future
I secured a place on the graduate scheme at BAE Systems, Britain’s aerospace company, in 2014, and I’ve been here ever since. I’m now working on a project called Tempest, investigating technologies needed for a future air-combat system. I work with a team of engineers looking at technologies for future flight-control systems – the systems that control aircraft in the air. I’ve also worked on spaceplanes and hypersonic aircrafts that travel faster than five times the speed of sound. I hope to one day achieve my dream of becoming an astronaut, but there’s a lot of work to do.
During lockdown, I formally set up a charity supporting young people by providing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) opportunities. Just 12% of engineers are women, and aerospace engineering is almost completely male dominated. Hopefully, I can inspire others to consider this career path, just as Dr Sharman inspired me.
Sophie is a part of the This is Engineering campaign, created by the Royal Academy of Engineering to celebrate the world-shaping engineering that exists all around us but often goes unnoticed, as well as the engineers who make this possible. Visit raeng.org.uk/ education/this-is-engineering.
‘Hopefully, I can inspire others to follow me’