More Women Should Think About A Career In Engineering

27th September 2014

Women Make Up 42% of UK Workforce but Only 7% of Professional Engineering Workforce.

Women make up 42% of UK workforce but only 7% of professional engineering workforce An additional 87,000 graduate level engineers will be needed in the UK each year between now and 2020 but the higher education system is only producing 46,000 engineering graduates annually, according to a new report from the think tank IPPR, published today. This gap could be closed if more young women opted for careers in engineering. The report shows that the UK has the lowest proportion of female engineering professionals in Europe.

IPPR's report shows that the critical point at which women are lost to a potential career in engineering is at the age of 16, with the A-level and vocational subject choices made at this age cutting off the pathway into careers in engineering for far more women than men. The report also shows that subject choices at 16 are made on the basis of attitudes and perceptions about engineering that have been formed over many years. The report points to the structure of the 14-19 education in England, which encourages early subject specialisation but does not prepare enough students for higher level technician and graduate studies in engineering.

The report also highlights that family encouragement and knowledge of engineering and engineering careers are important in shaping science aspirations, with 68 per cent of young people aged 11-14 saying that they were influenced by their parents 'a lot' when it came to career choice.

The report also finds:

In 2013 only one in five physics A-level entries were female
In 2013 only two in five mathematics A-level students were female
In 2013, just over 72,000 girls achieved grades A*-C in GCSE physics but only around 10 per cent of these girls go on to pursue physics at A-level
In 2011, close to half of all co-ed secondary state schools with sixth forms had no female students studying A-level physics
In 2011/2012 only 13 per cent of applicants to engineering degrees were female
In 2012/13 one in six (17%) engineering and technology students were female at an undergraduate level
The report highlights that two key areas of concern: the lack of young female students in A-level STEM subjects, which means too few women have the right pre-requisites to consider an engineering or science degree; and the transition from education into employment, where women are not only less likely to enter employment after their degree than men but are less likely than men to enter engineering and technology occupations.

Dalia Ben-Galim, IPPR Associate Director, said: "To better understand the significant shortage of women in engineering, it is important to map out where women, sometimes unknowingly, opt out of engineering career pathways. A large part of the problem is that at the age of 16, many girls remove themselves, which suggests the narrowing of the engineering talent pool starts well before people choose a career.

"Misconceptions about engineering continue to influence who pursues a career in this field. Engineering is still considered by many as a 'man's job', and is associated with a workplace culture that may put off prospective female workers. These attitudes pose real challenges when attempting to correct the gender imbalances in the sector. To help overcome these barriers in attracting greater female talent to engineering government, schools and business all have a role to play in influencing career choices, and aspirations - particularly at the critical point where school subject choices are made.

"The discrepancy between the number of engineers the UK's higher education system produces, and how many we need annually shows the UK has a long way to go to fill this potential skills gap. The most effective way to begin to address this gap is to tackle the low uptake of engineering degrees by women, and, further down the line, the continuation into long-term engineering careers."

The report recommends:

The government should invest in equality and inclusion training for teachers taken as part of their teacher training course and should also be offered as part of continuing professional development
Increased contact with role models and connecting students with mentors to addressing female students' perceptions that STEM is not 'for them'.
Implementing better careers education and guidance from an early age: careers advice should be integrated into the curriculum from primary school and learning made more relevant to the realities of STEM industries.
The government and schools should encourage greater engagement between employers and students with links stronger links between schools and industry to improve understandings of career pathways.
An organisation such as STEMnet should be given funding to act as a hub in order to coordinate fragmented provision of interventions, map provision and organise conferences and networking events to allow practitioners, role models and ambassadors to share good practice.

REPORT
Women in engineering: Fixing the talent pipeline.

This report demonstrates that 16 is the critical age at which women are lost to potential career in engineering, and considers what needs to be done both in and outside of schools to attract more female talent into the industry.
Women account for only 7 per cent of the professional engineering workforce in the UK, and less than 4 per cent of engineering technicians - far less than in other European countries. Engineering is a well-paid career, and it is expected that there will be a serious shortage of engineers in the UK in the coming years. Increasing the number of women going into engineering therefore represents an opportunity to reduce pay inequality and address a serious threat to both the industry and the UK economy more widely.

This report demonstrates that 16 is the critical age at which women are lost to a potential career in engineering: this is the point at which far more women than men make A-level and vocational subject choices that close off pathways 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.

We make recommendations for how to meet the four main challenges to attracting more female talent into engineering:

ensuring that more girls acquire the prerequisites, particularly physics, at A-level
combating unhelpful perceptions of STEM and engineering careers, among both girls and their families, as ‘masculine' or ‘brainy'.
improving students' understanding of engineering careers and the engineering pathway
making more effective use of resources in the fragmented STEM ecosystem.

See the full report at -
http://www.ippr.org/assets/media/publications/pdf/women-in-engineering_Sept2014.pdf