| dc.description.abstract | Women account for only 7 per cent of the professional engineering workforce
in the UK, and less than 4 per cent of engineering technicians (IET 2013). This
underrepresentation is far greater than in other European countries. Engineering
is a well-paid career, so this gender gap represents a missed opportunity to
reduce pay inequality in the workforce. With projections showing that the UK will
experience a serious shortage of engineers in the coming years, it also represents
a threat to the industry, and to the economy more generally.
The analysis presented in this paper demonstrates that the age of 16 is the critical
point at which women are lost to a potential career in engineering. For far more
women than men, A-level and vocational subject choices made at this age close
the pathway into careers in engineering.
However, the evidence suggests that these choices made at 16 are based on
attitudes and perceptions about engineering that have been formed over many
years. Engineering is still seen as a career for ‘brainy boys’. Teachers, careers
guidance, work experience and families do not do enough to counter this view,
and are sometimes guilty of perpetuating it.
Seeking to influence women at the age of 16 is too late. The key to getting more
women into engineering is to make it an attractive option for girls from an early age,
and to keep repeating this message throughout their education and in their lives
outside of school. | en_US |
