Press release

Battle continues to get more women into engineering

24 June 2011

New research shows there has been no change over four years to attract more women into engineering careers.

The proportion of women in engineering roles has remained static since 2008 while the proportion of female technicians has also remained unchanged.

The survey, published by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), shows that only 6 per cent of engineers (5 per cent in 2008) and 3 per cent of technicians (5 per cent in 2008) are women.

Paul Davies, Head of Policy at the IET said: “It is really disappointing that no progress has been made to attract more women into engineering over the last four years.  Part of the reason for this is down to the outdated views of engineering that many people have.

“We run a number of initiatives to challenge these perceptions and attract young women into the sector.  It is not a problem that can be sorted out quickly or in isolation.  There are actions that the government can take in terms of support, the profession can do more to co-ordinate its activities and organisations can do more to provide an attractive working environment.”

Shadow Minister for Innovation and Science, Chi Onwurah MP, who worked as an engineer before entering politics, said: “When I studied engineering 25 years ago, 12% of engineering students were women.  A quarter of a century later that figure has not changed, and that is one of the reasons why science and technology remains sidelined in our culture and in our economy. That has to change.

“To compete globally we need more engineers and scientists and we need to be drawing them from a larger pool.  I call on the Government to do more to encourage more girls into science and engineering, and improve the availability of quality STEM teaching.”

The survey also shows that nearly half of the companies questioned (47 per cent) are planning to recruit this year.  

However, of those recruiting, 48 per cent are struggling to find senior engineers to fill their vacancies.  These figures suggest that employers are beginning to experience a potentially serious skills shortage as they recover from the recession.

Notes to editors: