National Women in Engineering Day – Celebrating Female Engineers

Finmeccanica is proud to celebrate National Women in Engineering Day (NWED) on Monday 23 June 2014. The day is dedicated to raising the profile of the achievements of women in engineering across all sectors. Increasing and encouraging diversity in the workplace, as well as on science, engineering, maths and technology courses, is important to ensure the vibrancy of engineering in the UK. Engineering UK estimates that the demand for engineers will exceed the supply by 18,000 engineers this year, so encouraging diversity is a serious current issue.

 

This year, the government launched a campaign specifically targeting both gender and diversity disparities within the engineering sector. The ‘Your Life’ campaign seeks to improve the number of women in engineering as currently, fewer than 1 in 10 UK engineering professionals are female. Selex ES is committed to encouraging and improving diversity in the workplace and recently signed up to the ‘Your Life’ campaign, pledging the company’s support. Read more about the campaign and Finmeccanica’s pledges

 

By supporting and promoting inclusion and diversity within its workforce, Finmeccanica has sought to encourage an interest in engineering by students regardless of gender.

 

At operating company level, Beatrice Nicholas, Director Systems Engineering A&SS Division and Selex ES Diversity Champion, is heavily involved in initiatives addressing diversity in the workplace, recently commenting that "Selex ES will have a stronger and more effective workforce if we embrace diversity."

 

Carol Marsh, Electronics International Design Process Lead in Edinburgh, is also involved in promoting gender equality in the sector, campaigning for diversity in her role as the Women’s Engineering Society (WES) President.

 

Selex ES’s sites in Edinburgh, Basildon and Luton have already confirmed several activities planned for NWED. In Luton on 19 June a seminar was held entitled: 'Women in Engineering: an engineer’s perspective and ways forward’. This seminar consisted of presentations which described the experiences of women in engineering and the current state of diversity and gender in the sector.

 

In Edinburgh on 23 June, a group of female pupils will visit the site for the day, shadowing female engineers and undertaking a number of interactive activities. The students will tour Edinburgh’s facilities and gain a first-hand insight into what it means to be an engineer in the 21st century, getting valuable career advice.

 

On 23 June, Basildon will invite local female school students to the site. Employees in Basildon are also being encouraged to bring their daughters to work on the date.

 

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