‘Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards’: why promoting gender equality in engineering careers matters
Three female engineers have been recognised by the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) for their professional achievements and the work they do encouraging other young people into engineering careers at the prestigious Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards.
Naomi Mitchison, a 28-year-old senior hardware engineer at Selex-ES was named Young Woman Engineer of the Year and will become an ambassador for the profession in the coming months. Also recognised were 20-year-old Jessica Bestwick from Rolls Royce who won the Mary George Prize for Apprentices and 27-year-old Lucy Ackland from Renisha Plc who won the Women’s Engineering Society Award. Click here to learn more about the three winners.
Coca Cola Enterprises (CCE) sponsored the event for the first time, which took place on the 10th of December in London and was hosted by BBC business journalist Steph McGovern.
‘I saw some truly outstanding role models tonight all of whom will continue to inspire young females to embrace a career in engineering. The low number of women in engineering positions across industry is a real issue and I am convinced that collectively we can reverse the trend through the active promotion of the fantastic careers we have to offer at CCE’ said Richard Davies, VP Operations, Supply Chain CCE, who attended the ceremony.
Statistics from the IET’s Skills and Demand in Industry survey showed that women represent only 6% of the engineering workforce. Further research shows that only 1% of parents of girls were likely to encourage their daughters into engineering, compared to 11% of parents of boys.
At CCE, we are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that reflects the diversity of the communities in which we operate. Diversity and gender equality in recruitment is one of our key priorities, especially in Supply Chain where the lack of women choosing careers in engineering presents a challenge.
We will work closely with the IET which is a leading body working with industry, government and academia to engage and influence young women with the purpose of promoting careers in science, engineering and technology.
