NOVEMBER 2019
Engineers play a vital role in
shaping our world, from
where we live and how we
communicate, to what we do
for leisure. We frequently
highlight their importance in
response to global challenges –
including achieving Net Zero and
securing sustainable food, water
and energy for all. But their
importance has rarely been more
visible than during the global
pandemic – engineers, technicians
and manufacturing companies
have been integral to producing
personal protective equipment,
ventilators and medical
infrastructure and supplies.
While engineers have
responded fast, flexibly and with
huge personal commitment at this
time of crisis – we know that it
could have been better. We know
this because workforce diversity
improves innovation, creativity,
productivity, resilience and market
insight and the engineering
workforce could and should be
much more diverse. For example,
women make up just 12% of the
engineering workforce and those
from minority ethnic backgrounds,
9%.
The shocking convergence of
the coronavirus pandemic and the
killing of George Floyd - leading to
global engagement with Black Lives
Matter - challenges us to consider
how we can build a better society.
Much of the growing commitment
to equality, diversity and inclusion,
may have been driven, in part, by
the productivity argument, relayed
above, or regulatory requirements,
such as transparency about the
gender pay gap. But we can hope
that this commitment will be
strengthened by giving greater
weight to the moral argument to
ensure that people’s backgrounds
do not determine their
opportunities.
Engineering is often
misunderstood by the public in
general, and, more worryingly, by
young people and their parents and
teachers. Furthermore, these
misconceptions often relate to
stereotypes about who can become
Driving diversity in
engineering has never
been more important
Addressing the barriers under-represented groups
face in pursuing pathways to STEM education and
careers has never been more important writes
Engineering UK chief executive Dr Hilary Leevers
an engineer and may be one of the
reasons that diversity narrows at
each educational decision point.
Now more than ever we need to
understand and mitigate the
barriers that under-represented
groups, including women and those
from BAME backgrounds, face in
pursuing pathways to STEM
education and careers.
Other issues are a lack of
confidence in the abilities
underlying engineering, access to
unbiased careers advice and STEM
work experience, the availability of
STEM education and expert
teachers, and many other societal
and cultural factors.
While it’s well established that
young people from
socioeconomically disadvantaged
backgrounds have poorer
July 2020 / www.theengineer.co.uk 36
educational opportunities and
outcomes, we are bracing ourselves
for these differences to be
exacerbated by the impact of school
lockdown. In our rapidly changing
world, we at EngineeringUK will be
researching young people’s
understanding of engineering
careers, their aspirations and the
best ways that we can open-up
engineering for them. For instance,
it may be that they see engineering
as more desirable if its life-saving
impacts are now more visible, on
the other hand, it may be seen as
less attainable due to educational
or financial barriers.
While poor careers advice or
access to STEM education, may
seem like problems for
policymakers – businesses and the
engineering industry have a huge
role to play in inspiring tomorrow’s
engineers. There are a number of
initiatives in place that can be
supported to help with this
including: The Big Bang Programme,
Tomorrow’s Engineers Week and the
Royal Academy of Engineering’s
‘This is Engineering’ Campaign.
Businesses can also help us promote
role models that young people can
identify with. Meeting real-life
engineers helps them discover how
diverse and exciting modern
engineering can be, demystifying
the world and face of engineering.
Perhaps the most important
thing that employers can do at this
time is continue to recruit and
provide training and careers for
those entering the profession. We
need young people to have these
opportunities at a societal level, but
individual organisations also need a
balanced workforce. We know that
some employers are experiencing
real challenges, but urge them to
consider how they can help young
people and also to be mindful of the
impacts that decisions about
furlough, staff retention and
progression are having on diversity.
We know the Institute for Fiscal
Studies research has found for
example, that more women are
being made redundant and
furloughed in general. This would
risk decades of hard-won diversity
gains if true of the engineering
workforce – and would be likely to
impact on the appeal of the
profession in the future.
Engineering is a varied,
stimulating and valuable career and
we need to work harder than ever to
ensure that it is accessible for this
generation of young people – for
their own life chances and so that
we have a diverse and insightful
workforce that enables the UK to
thrive. EngineeringUK aims to work
with education, government and
industry to grow our collective
impact to help young people
understand what engineering is,
how to get into it, and be motivated
and able to access the educational
and training opportunities on the
way – whatever their
backgrounds.
Comment
Dr Hilary Leevers
/www.theengineer.co.uk