One of the most important conclusions from the 2016 World Economic Summit in Davos was: “A nation’s competitiveness depends, among other things, on whether and how it educates and utilises its female talent”.
I wholeheartedly agree. Unless we get more women on boards there is no foreseeable way we can fill the 2.5 million job openings in the UK for engineers, forecast between now and 2022. Only nine per cent of the UK’s engineering workforce is female – the lowest in Europe.
In the past, women were not offered the opportunity to pursue careers in the sciences, but in today’s world this is simply not good enough. I believe the challenge we face to get more women to enter the science, technology, engineering, mathematic (STEM) fields is not education, but the promotion of STEM careers to women.
We need to start fully demonstrating the portfolio of careers that STEM subjects offer, as opposed to leaving them to the imagination. After all, they don’t all involve lab coats, overalls or goggles. On the contrary, STEM subjects can open doors into careers such as habit preservation of endangered animals, industrial plant management or even going into space.
The gender divide, in terms of subject choice at secondary school level, needs to be addressed as girls start to consider higher education aged just 13. Some progress has been made here in recent years, yet the number of women taking A Level physics and mathematics remains low. This in spite of increased uptake of STEM subjects among young girls at GCSE level.
Finally, in order to improve and utilise female talent in the STEM business sector we need to ensure any remaining gender bias attitudes are removed, so women are not held back from excelling because their field is deemed gender specific. After all, they’re not.
As the number of STEM jobs increases we need to ensure the number of women entering these fields also grows. With the estimated 2.5 million engineering jobs in the horizon, half of these are forecasted to be filled by women. We therefore need to empower and help women achieve this through continuous encouragement, learning and mentoring – so they gain the self-confidence to step up. Let’s utilise our female talent, make STEM more inclusive and UK plc more competitive all at the same time.
About the author
Estelle Brachlianoff leads Veolia’s combined water, waste and energy business in the UK and Ireland. She was appointed to the role in July 2012 and she also sits on Veolia Executive Committee. Prior to her current position, she was in charge of waste management in the Greater Paris area and also the facility management and cleaning services branch. She started her career heading a team managing major infrastructure projects and constructing highways and tramways within the Val D’Oise region of Greater Paris.
