A woman's work in a man's world?

摘要

Engineering is still a male-dominated profession, but the reasons for this are poorly understood. Is it a lack of opportunities for women, or is the perception of engineering less desirable to female applicants? Here, Diana Hunter discusses engineering as an accessible and rewarding field for both women and men. Like many other fields, engineering is constantly evolving to adapt to modern demands, and also to embrace the current age of advanced technology. However, even with changes running apace within the field of engineering, it continues to be a heavily male-dominated environment, with women accounting for less than 9% of the engineers in the UK. So, how does one go about encouraging women to pursue a career in engineering? Diana Hunter shares her experience of choosing an engineering profession from an early age. "I was the sort of child who took things apart," she said." I've got a very practical family, with quite a few engineers, so I have quite a background in engineering. The sort of subjects I took at school were science, maths, and graphics, which, when combined with an element of practicality, really point toward engineering. I also benefited from a number of periods of work experience. I took every opportunity to do a variety of different things, to find out what I wanted to do, and I had the most fun working as part of a maintenance team, fixing massive electron beam welding machines. It really all pointed toward engineering."