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Asked by nhsbatss1 to Neil, Marcus, Claire, Alex on 20 Jun 2014.
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Claire Brockett answered on 20 Jun 2014:
hi nhsbatss1
I think there might still be a perception that there is, but things are definitely changing. For example, the two places I’ve got recent work experience in – industry and academia –
In industry, the company I worked in has the worldwide manager for research as a woman, and in my department (mechanical engineering at Leeds) about half the academics are female, and many of them are professors – so very senior and well paid.
There may be fewer women in the very top positions at the moment, but I think that’s because there are quite often fewer women in engineering – and that too is changing. It’s a very exciting time to be a female engineer and I don’t think it matters anymore whether you’re male or female.
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Marcus Johns answered on 20 Jun 2014:
I think that a glass ceiling does exist in engineering, but there are two parts to it.
As Claire said, there are fewer women in engineering meaning that, statistically, fewer senior positions will be held by women. This is being addressed on a number of fronts in trying to encourage female students to pursue engineering as a career path – such as the National Women in Engineering Day, which is this Monday! (23rd) http://www.nwed.org.uk/
Secondly, companies create a glass ceiling of their own making no matter the profession chosen. Put simply, a young woman who is recently married is less likely to gain a promotion or even be employed because companies assume that she’ll have children in the near future. They don’t like this because it means that they’ll have to pay maternity leave and hire someone to cover her whilst she is away – which is more difficult the more senior her position – leading to a reduction in their profits. Children also means that the company assumes that she would be less inclined to travel or spend extended periods away from home. Therefore they promote, or hire, someone who will be less affected by this – usually men. Clearly this is a problem that needs to be addressed as a woman shouldn’t have to choose between her family and her career, but it is a much more complicated problem than just recruiting more women
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Alex Lyness answered on 21 Jun 2014:
Hey nhsbats1,
To answer your question: No. Although I think for a lot of jobs over the last 100 years the answer to your question may have been yes, but thankfully the world is changing.
My own engineering institution the IMechE has pledged to do the things about it, their statement can be seen here: http://www.imeche.org/knowledge/policy/education/policy/women-in-engineering I’m sure all other institutions are doing the same.
The really big issue is that we definitely need more women to work in engineering (currently only about 15%) to up the numbers and then challenge for the bigger and higher paid jobs.
I think in the current climate there would be a lot of companies who would be very pleased to take on female engineers.
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