Whatever your politics, there’s no denying Nicola Sturgeon can talk the big talk. Scotland’s First Minister marked her 100th day as with a powerful promise to “haul down the barriers” in male-dominated industries.
In a pledge that will find favour with many seeking jobs in the Scottish engineering sector, she also unveiled a campaign aimed at promoting modern apprenticeships for women.
Nicola Sturgeon wants more women to get involved in male-dominated industries, such as engineering.
Speaking, mostly to men it must be said, at the launch of the “You Work, You Learn, You Earn” campaign, she encouragd young women to train for roles historically reserved for “big, beefy blokes”, all as part of the government’s modern apprenticeships scheme.
Nicola said: “I want young women to be inspired to be mechanics, scientists or look at engineering as an option. This campaign will focus on removing those preconceived notions and will encourage young women to follow a career path which excites them.”
This is certainly on trend, as they say: the past few years have seen a growing movement in engineering to attract women to the lucrative career. The job market in this traditionally male practice has exploded in recent years, and the demand for engineering workers and an engineering skillset grows exponentially each calender year.
In fact, estimations suggest by 2022 there will be 1.8 million new jobs in engineering, science and technology across the UK. The demand, and need, for more female engineers has never been greater.
Many of the top engineering economies across the globe have large female involvement, but here, only 7% of engineering professionals in the UK are female. Women traditionally excel in maths and science, the bedrock of engineering degrees, but shy away from taking this education further. Unfair and unbalanced stereotypes of engineers – you know, with three-day beards and copies of tabloid newspapers – have a lot to do with this, and doors need to be opened to women to remove these limitations. Approximately 14% of engineering graduates are women, and granted this has doubled since the 1980s, this is still not enough. But, a change is a-comin’.
Organisations such as the Women’s Engineering Society (WES) are engaging with young women to raise the profile of female achievement in engineering, and to inspire future female innovators.
As part of this, they have set up National Women in Engineering Day (NWED), an annual event taking place on the 23rd of June to raise the profile and celebrate the achievements of women in engineering. IEEE Women in Engineering (WIE) promote gender equality in engineering, and want to get more young women working in technical disciplines.
Glasgow Caledonian University has many programmes and initiatives to help secure the growth and future of women’s involvement in engineering. As part of NWED, it held a Women in Engineering event, celebrating some of the biggest successes in women’s engineering and discussing the key issues in bringing others into the industry.
The growth and demands of engineering, and its position on the cusp of the application of new and exciting technological breakthroughs mean that the UK has to gear up for an engineering revolution in the job market.
Many of the roles exepected to be around in 2022 don’t exist right now, so innovators and graduates with these technical skills are more essential than ever.
There could not be a more perfect time to break down the barriers engineering stereotypes have put up and involve young women in the discussion about Scotland’s engineering future.
Want to join the growing numbers of women in Engineering? Search the latest jobs in Scotland now.