With yesterday (23rd of June) being globally celebrated as 'Women in Engineering Day' where we highlight the amazing work that women engineers around the world are doing to support lives and livelihoods every day.
"International Women in Engineering Day celebrated its 8th year in 2021. The latest figures as of June 2021 show that 14.5% of engineers are women. INWED gives women engineers around the world a profile when they are still hugely under-represented in their professions. As the only platform of its kind, it plays a vital role in encouraging more young women and girls to take up engineering careers."
Why is it important?
There are many reasons why it's essential to have celebratory days like International Women in Engineering Day. Since 2016, a 25.7% increase in women in engineering occupations has occurred, which shows how important it is to keep campaigning.
Despite this , only 12.37% of all engineers are women in the UK and 21.80% women work in the engineering sector.
It's important to begin the push for women in engineering at a young age, and more schools need to be open to educating girls and providing the same opportunities as their male counterparts. There are signs that this early education is working, 46.4% of girls 11-14 would consider a career in engineering, compared to 70.3% of boys, 42.0% of girls 14-16 would consider a career in engineering compared to 66.0% of boys, 25.4% of girls 16-18 would consider a career in engineering compared to 51.9% of boys.
While these statistics are still quite low, there is proof of an upward trend in girls showing more interest in engineering.
Despite all of this, the work is never done, and we need to push days like 'Women in Engineering' harder than ever before.
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