Women engineers can reap future rewards

Women engineers have a key role in helping to bridge the UK’s burgeoning skills gap 

Over the years, the UK has been hailed as the ‘workshop of the world’ and a world leader in engineering and innovation. But despite this history of success, today it has the lowest percentage of female engineering professionals in Europe. According to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics, women still only make up around just 8 per cent of engineers.

This is at a time when the industry is facing a critical skills shortage. Research by Engineering UK has found an additional 1.8 million engineers are needed by 2025. At the moment, there is a 20,000-a-year shortfall in qualified engineers. To bridge this skills gap, the UK is currently reliant on employees from abroad. However, potential restrictions on the free movement of labour in the wake of Brexit could make the skills shortage even worse.