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Women in Engineering

Britain has the lowest number of female engineers in Europe.

Only nine per cent of professional engineers in the UK are women, compared to 26 per cent in Sweden and 20 per cent in Italy.

Leading Aberdeen recruitment consultancy Thorpe Molloy Recruitment says the figures are cause for concern.

According to Alana Wilson of the company’s Engineering division, there is a severe shortage of female engineers and more needs to be done in schools to encourage girls into the engineering workforce.

“I think a lot of girls are not given the right opportunities at school. Teachers sometimes promote gender stereotypes, but they need to encourage girls to explore new avenues.”

“A lot of girls restrict their future by not choosing subjects that will qualify them for Engineering further education courses or apprenticeship places.”

“The problem starts as early as primary school and by the time girls are finishing secondary school they’ve already made up their mind that a technology based profession isn’t for them.”

The most recent Labour Market Intelligence survey, conducted by industry training body OPITO, represented a 6th of the UK oil and gas workforce but showed that less than 10% of respondents were female engineers.

‘It’s important that we make the industry more attractive to women. We need to dispel the myth that engineering is all hard hats and a dirty environment to work in and pay more attention to the way we describe the industry. Are we doing enough to get the leaders of the future on board or are other sectors simply outshining oil and gas in the way they approach it? Internally we tend to talk a different language, but we don’t portray the sector in an exciting way that other people understand,’ says OPITO’s Skills, Learning and Development Director, Mike Duncan.

“This goes all the way back to school. At the moment we are not making the industry attractive enough for teenagers starting to think about their career choices. Kids are inspired by enthusiastic role models so we also need to make better use of the few female role models we have,” continues Mike.

“It’s important that we encourage more females into the industry, because we are missing 50 per cent of our potential workforce.”

Cherry Crerar began her engineering career in 2006. Based in Italy and with an international remit, she travelled extensively before joining Thorpe Molloy Recruitment to recruit engineers into the oil and gas industry. She says women need to be convinced the sector isn’t just about ‘jobs for the boys’.

“When I was working in Norway the ratio of male : female engineers was much healthier than it is in the UK,” she explains.

‘With the right training and ability, a girl can be as good as a guy, gender is irrelevant, like any job it depends on an individual’s skills, knowledge and aptitude,” she adds.

Cherry feels she was lucky at school and was persuaded to do a degree in geology by her sister who said ‘it was easy’! A graduate of Edinburgh University, she started her career as a wireline field engineer with Schlumberger, logging downhole rock geology.

So how did she cope with the ‘macho’ culture of the oil industry?

Cherry continues, “Some members of my team were more than twice my age which was sometimes difficult to manage but it was more about being young, rather than being a girl.”

“I would be treated differently sometimes, but usually when my male colleagues were trying to be gentlemen, helping me with heavy lifting for example. I felt respected every time I was offshore and genuinely never felt uncomfortable just because I was the only girl in my team.”

“I’m a chatty, outgoing girl and I can stand up for myself. But I believe, in the offshore environment, if you prove you are good at what you do your colleagues will respect you – irrespective of gender.”

Cherry feels a career in engineering is hugely interesting and challenging and feels it’s a great pity that there aren’t more women in the profession to enjoy it.

She’s keen to promote more women into the industry and believes that those already in the profession love it because of the career development opportunities.

“The oil and gas industry can be daunting. Offshore, the shifts are long and there is no such thing as nine to five. As a field engineer you have huge responsibilities for the tools and crews. If something goes wrong, people can get hurt and equipment damaged at a great financial cost, which is the sort of pressure that isn’t for everyone.”

“However I had a fantastic time. Within the oil and gas industry there are, literally, hundreds of different engineering roles, onshore and offshore. There are lots of opportunities for travel and you are paid very well. It’s very challenging, with a great deal of opportunity for development and you also meet wonderful people from every continent and nationality.”

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