Women in Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heat Pump (RACHP) Engineering

Women in Engineering – FemEng

Growing equality equals a growing industry

Gender inequality is not only a pressing moral and social issue, but also a critical economic challenge.

Although there is certain level of fulfilment when like-minded colleagues agree on a new idea, this comes at a high cost. Missing out on a diverse pool of thoughts and creative ideas affects innovation and profitability, as research by McKinsey & Co. suggests: companies with a gender diverse workforce are likely to perform 15% better, as a diverse range of perspectives on issues can provide a gateway to a broader variety of solutions.

So, what else can we do to enlist a younger generation of female engineers who have the potential to shape and innovate our future?

FemEng

As an ageing population of skilled workers contributes to the nationwide engineer shortfall, we should turn our focus to the generation of today to give rise to the engineers of tomorrow.

Perhaps we could learn from FemEng, a group of young female engineers from the University of Glasgow. FemEng was founded in 2013 by UoG’s Engineering Society President, Ellen Simmons. FemEng visit local schools in Glasgow to speak to girls about the importance of engineering and how anyone can do it – not just boys.

“There are lots of reasons why girls in particular aren’t studying engineering, but we believe those reasons are not because they’re incapable, we believe those reasons are because a lot of girls just don’t know what engineering entails,” says Simmons.

“A lot of girls are intimidated by the engineering environment as it’s full of men – it’s the idea that you’ll be in a minority, feeling as if you have to prove yourself more, feeling that, if you fail, people will notice more. It’s just little things like that that can make your career more stressful or your class not as fun.”

“This is why we are going around schools to speak to 12 to 15 year old girls – as this is when they must decide their future by making their subject choices – to encourage them with our success stories and how happy we are.”

FemEng seek to drive out the existing misconception that engineering only means manual labour on a construction site or shipyard, when in fact the field is so diverse that it can involve anything from designing innovative new technology to developing and testing aircraft. Engineering is very much a career focused degree, and statistics have shown that engineering students are second only to medics in securing full-time jobs and earning good salaries.

FemEng teams up with Rwanda

FemEng is going international. Last week eight of the girls, including Ellen, travelled to Rwanda, where they will be living and working for three weeks in the country’s capital, Kigali, to deliver workshops for local primary and secondary school girls that will hopefully encourage the pupils to think of engineering as a realistic career option.

Rwanda is a country that stands out as having similar goals for workplace diversity. Women currently make up 64% of their parliament, and they are the second most active country in the UN’s HeForShe equality campaign, behind the United States. FemEng’s project even got the stamp of approval from Rwanda’s Minister of Education, who is “really excited” about their plans.

Speaking about FemEng’s plans for the project, Simmons says, “The country has very interesting gender dynamics. It’s very much a collaborative effort. We will be working with a team of eight female engineering and architecture students over there as well as an additional team of eight girls from different schools around Kigali, and we’re hoping they are going to be pioneers for when we leave.”

“However, this project isn’t intended to be one where we go all the way to Rwanda and then we come home and forget all about it, this is the inaugural year of what we’re planning on being a five year project at least.”

“At the same time, I don’t want to still be advocating for STEM diversity 10 years from now – because, really, the problem should have been fixed by then.”

A career in engineering? “I would do it for free”

Another girl participating in this pioneering project is Jess Níc Shuibhne, who has just completed her degree in Aeronautical Engineering at Glasgow. When asked what she would say to young girls to inspire them to take up engineering, Jess reflected on her own love of the craft: “I would do it for free.”

Proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments (%), data from The World Bank: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SG.GEN.PARL.ZS

“Going on to study engineering at university really hammered home that I picked the right thing, as it is so unbelievably interesting. I could not have spent four years – or, actually, the rest of my life – having studied anything else.”

Jess went on to comment that the reason most of the girls in her class went on to do engineering was because ‘they had always been very determined to do it anyway.’

“One day, I would like it to come as just a natural career option for girls, as it has always done for boys.”

Supporting Women in Engineering

FemEng’s project has won a lot of support from organisations eager to make ‘women in engineering’ a reality. Within a few months, the team has received sponsorship from Star Refrigeration, the Institute of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland (IESIS), Incorporation of Hammermen of Glasgow, UoG Chancellor’s Fund, UoG School of Engineering, CH2M, and Western Ferries, as well as the donation of a 3D printer from University College Dublin.

If you would also like to contribute, visit FemEng’s GoFundMe page: www.gofundme.com/femengrwanda.