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Women in Engineering

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According to Engineering UK, only 12% of people working in the engineering industry are female.

Today (8th March) is International Women’s Day, and to celebrate we wanted to highlight the stories of a few of our female engineers, to help change the perception that engineering is predominantly a career for men.

As a career, engineering is exciting and creative, and offers you the opportunity to make a life changing impact for people around the world.

Sara SladeThe first person we wanted to highlight, is one of our Electrical Engineering Lecturers, Sara Slade.

“Engineering was always going to be part of my future. My father was an Electrician and I was brought up in a hands-on environment working on cars, motorbikes and buildings, with no set boundaries for male and female function. Having great maths skills and the ability to solve problems, school encouraged me to study core subjects for engineering.

“Once I started my apprenticeship and worked through the company I settled in Research and Design. Having worked in many environments and companies even working self- employed for a period I found the support from work colleagues to be mainly positive. After reaching my goal to be Production Manager I decided to use my experiences and skills to teach and help develop our future generation of engineers.”

From lecturer, to learner, the next person we are showcasing is Level 3 Engineering Technician Apprentice, Maisie White, who is working at GKN.

“One of the main reasons I went into an engineering job role was because of the large variety of working tasks which it can involve. I get to work in practical environments, use problem solving skills and have also had the chance to work with great teams of people.

“Engineering provides so many future opportunities as there are endless routes and job roles which I could potentially take up. Being a girl in this industry has personally always benefited me, considering there are much fewer females compared to males in this field of work. I think there are lots of various qualities that as females we can bring to the table to help create strong diverse groups or teams.”

The next person we are highlighting, is member of our engineering team, Alison  Page, who shares her story, and how she ended up at Weston College.

Catia Design“I completed my 4-year apprenticeship at Westland Helicopter Yeovil, learning  planning, airframe assemblies, jig and tool and fabrication.

“In my first year I won Year 1 Apprentice of the Year and met Prince Charles. I  got my dream and worked on the drawing board at 18. I achieved a full time  BEng Honour degree in Mechanical Engineering in Salford Manchester.

“I worked my way up in Aerospace at GKN on Airbus and Rolls Royce sites in Bristol and Derby as a design engineer, stress team leader and GKN bid manager.

“I diversified after redundancy and retrained as a school business manager as I’d been a finance governor for 6 years and had safeguarding experience. I had contract jobs in Schools, then renovated the Control Tower at the Helicopter Museum in Weston.

“Whilst at the Museum, one of many volunteer projects involved Weston College, who provided plastering students for 3 days. Their lecturer told me about a new assessing role. 3 years have passed, I have achieved my IOSHH, Assessor A1 and working towards my IQA award. I am now assessing and mentoring the new Aerospace degree apprentices at the same companies I worked in. These apprentices now sit in front of a CATIA V5 screen instead of a drawing board!”

Chloe engineering apprenticeOur final showcase, is Rolls Royce Aerospace Engineering Apprentice, Chloe Ann Bell.

“I’m currently a Year 1 Aerospace Engineering Degree Apprentice at Rolls Royce and thoroughly enjoying every moment of it so far. More women are now working in core STEM roles across the UK than ever before. However, there's still work to be done in addressing gender imbalance within the engineering sector, and overcoming the global skill shortage.

“For me, engineering is so much more than building and creating. It’s about being curious, eager to explore and interested in the how and why.

“As women, we need to be better at believing in ourselves and acknowledging our value and, importantly, being more proactive when sharing our thinking.

“Engineering is, without doubt, one of the most challenging, yet rewarding, jobs in the world, especially knowing that I will be positively contributing something to society. It is difficult at times, but obscure thinking only enables us to overcome the multitude of problems faced.

“Being offered an apprenticeship at Rolls Royce is an experience like no other. I’m grateful to be given the opportunity to develop a whole range of skills and behaviours in such a thriving environment.

“With my second year soon commencing, I will find myself working in a collaborative and digitally-enabled environment, with the most advanced technology, alongside industry leaders and experts. In everything I do, I know I’ll feel included, supported, recognised, rewarded and empowered to succeed. By sharing my own experiences, fears and achievements, I hope others will see engineering as a worthwhile and enriching career choice.”

If you would like to follow in these women’s footsteps, you can apply for one of our engineering courses, and start this September: https://www.weston.ac.uk/what-can-i-study/courses-16-18-year-olds/engineering

 

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