Guest Blog: Women in Business: Steps to a More Equal Workplace

Several industries in business continue to be male-dominated. For instance, statistics show that only around 12% of engineers in the UK are women. Engineering is a growing industry that offers a rewarding career path. By not considering engineering roles, girls are missing out on some of the most exciting career opportunities available. Fortunately, there have been several successful campaigns in recent years to encourage women to consider careers in less traditional fields such as STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths). With this in mind, here are some of the key ways that women are breaking stereotypes within traditional male lead industries.

Campaigns

As mentioned, there have been many recent campaigns designed to encourage women to pursue less traditional career paths. Wise Campaign is a nationwide campaign which seeks to ensure gender balance within STEM. The campaign stresses that gender diversity offers many benefits to both employees and employers. It means that employees have access to a wider selection of rewarding jobs and can gain in-demand skills to enhance their career prospects. For employers, gender diversity can offer better customer service, improve productivity, and increased profits. Fortunately, there has been a huge increase in women entering STEM industries in recent years. According to Wise, there are now 50,000 women in engineering professional roles, which is almost double the number 10 years ago. Other popular campaigns include the International Women in Engineering Day which takes place annually in June. This event was designed to promote and celebrate the incredible achievements of female engineers across the globe. Every year, many exciting events take place across the UK to connect and support female engineers.

Inspiring female leaders

Celebrating the inspiring work of females within male-dominated industries is an excellent way to encourage more women to pursue careers in these fields. Ada Lovelace Day is an annual event that takes place every October to celebrate the achievements of women in STEM industries. The event aims to increase the profile of women in STEM, thus creating role models for young girls considering a career in STEM and supporting women currently working in related industries. Made with Code is another excellent resource that features inspiring female leaders in STEM. The site features a variety of short interviews with women who work in tech and explores how these women are using their coding skills to change the world. In the interviews, the women explain how they got into tech and the benefits of working in the industry. This helps encourage other women to consider a role in the exciting field of coding.

Accessible education

Technological advancements have made education far more accessible and convenient. For instance, there is now an extensive range of online courses that can teach women the skills needed to secure a role in STEM. Many qualifications are fully-flexible and can be completed at home during your spare time. This makes it easy for women to retrain and change careers in later life, even when their have work or family commitments. There is also a number of specialist recruitment agencies that can help women break into male-dominated industries. For example, engineering recruitment consultants can use their expert knowledge and connections to help women secure their dream job in the exciting field of engineering.

School visits

One of the key reasons why less women are studying STEM subjects at university, is because they did not take the right GCSE or A-Level subjects to be accepted on the courses. For that reason, girls must be educated on the benefits of STEM careers from a young age. This will allow girls to make an informed decision about which subjects they want to study in school to support their future career goals. Many universities are now going into secondary schools to speak with girls about STEM courses and the career prospects they offer. This is helping to attract more girls into taking STEM courses in higher education.

Final thoughts

There have been massive improvements in the number of women entering male-dominated industries in recent years. However, women continue to be underrepresented in several fields including STEM. The government needs to continue supporting campaigns designed to encourage girls to pursue careers in STEM and support women already in the industry. These diverse fields can offer many interesting and rewarding career paths, so women should not be discouraged from pursuing a job in a workplace that is traditionally dominated by men. 

 Thanks to our guest blogger Chloe Walker. Chloe is a freelance writer who’s main focus is on working life and the business world. When she isn’t writing Chloe can be found curled up in front of the fire with the newspaper.