Leading public and regulated services provider Amey, is helping to bridge the skills gap by inspiring girls and young women to pursue a career in engineering as the company takes part in National Women in Engineering Day across the UK.
National Women in Engineering Day (Tuesday 23 June) is spearheaded by the Women’s Engineering Society and aims to encourage women to participate and achieve as engineers, scientists and as leaders.
Throughout the week, Amey is joining a variety of empowering organisations, educational establishments, Government Departments and Professional Engineering Institutions to drive the awareness of women in engineering. Events include ‘Ladies Day’ at the iconic Forth Road Bridge, STEM inductions that will see 24 new ambassadors join the team and a range of school visits to help raise the profile of the exciting and rewarding career opportunities that are available for women in engineering.
Kate Litton, HR Director for Amey said “We recognise that across the industry there is a skills gap and to help address this we need to encourage more girls to consider engineering as a realistic career option. This will help to create more diversity in the sector and a bigger talent pool of engineers in the future.”
A variety of women across the business will also be sharing their knowledge and insights into their roles as well as holding career development workshops.
Dawn Bonfield, founder of NWED commented “We are delighted that so many companies like Amey are celebrating this day and raising awareness of the exciting careers for girls in engineering. The more of these events that we encourage, the more girls we can reach and inspire - statistics show that young people are far more likely to choose a career when they have spent time with somebody in the industry to get a better understanding of the types of roles available.”
Philippa Jefferis, an Amey Graduate Engineer and a current ICE President’s Apprentice is presenting to girls from a number of schools in Birmingham about the different routes into engineering. She comments: “With less than 10% of women in the engineering industry it’s more important than ever to support events like National Women in Engineering Day and ensure the right perception of engineering is provided at grass roots level. At school I was the only girl to go on to study engineering - but that’s because people had the wrong impression of what the job was.”