08 Mar Engineering Needs You

Tate Consulting calls out for more women to enter the industry and states there is still a shortage of women engineers and as building demands increase there needs to be much more awareness of the options available to women in engineering

Jeff Bearcroft, Managing Director of Tate Consulting, which provides international building services and was ranked fourth Top 20 Engineering Consultants by Construction News, said engineering is not a man’s world anymore despite a remaining stereotype.

“There needs to be more females studying engineering then there is. Women are rising up the ranks in engineering, but not as many as there should be, or the numbers you’d see in a lot of other professions.

“I think this is partly down to a lack of information being made available in the past within schools and colleges where is may still be seen as a male orientated job.

“But it’s not just schools and colleges which need to help demonstrate the varied career choices within engineering, but also parents, who probably see becoming a doctor, teacher, banker etc as a more mainstream professional route for their daughters.

“There is a still a perception for girls who don’t see enough females in engineering roles so they may think those jobs are closed off for them. But if more women opt to study engineering and start coming through, those perceptions will hopefully change.”

Jeff explained that with the Government’s demand for increased housing and also the infrastructure to support this, it means there is a real need for more engineers and not just women.

“At Tate’s we have previously employed women, but frankly there aren’t even enough well qualified male engineers in the UK. Many large companies are having to recruit from other countries, particularly Hong Kong and Spain, where as many females study engineering as males.”

“I would encourage young people who may not be certain what direction they would like their career to take, to look at engineering as there are so many different options and directions which offer exciting opportunities within the UK and internationally.”