Introduction
We’ve built a partnership to drive a collective mission to significantly increase the number of girls in education pathways to engineering and technology at age 18.
Led by EngineeringUK, BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, Royal Academy of Engineering, Women’s Engineering Society (WES) and Women into Science and Engineering (WISE), this work started in autumn 2024. To date, the partnership has brought together a coalition of over 40 organisations around this shared vision. Together we mapped the influencing factors affecting girls and young women’s engineering and technology career choices, alongside outlining the promising practice and evidence of what works in this space. This is very much a starting point, we are building a collective wisdom about this context and the various factors influencing girls and young women. (Context setting: Gender and pathways into engineering and technology / Summary of the builds in workshop 1 to the context setting paper)
Why this work is so important
This partnership was set up in direct response to a concerning decline in young people’s interest in science, especially in 11 to 14 year old girls, and the finding that the majority of girls saying that they don’t think being an engineer fits well with who they are or is suitable for them (Science Education Tracker, 2023). This is in the context of only 15.7% of the engineering and technology workforce being made up of women, (down from 16.5% last year), and contrasts with the 56% of women that make up the rest of the UK workforce (The engineering and technology workforce, 2024).
Analysis showed that girls/women are not the problem – rather, we need to change the ‘chilly climate’ in STEM, that hinders, dissuades, marginalises and excludes even highly talented and interested girls and women. It is only by changing policies, practices and pedagogies within engineering and computing that we will start to see real change.
— Professor Louise Archer OBE, Karl Mannheim Professor of Sociology of Education, UCL
A strong and diverse engineering and technology workforce is vital to the UK economy and efforts to achieve net zero. However, there are current workforce challenges as employers are reporting skills shortages and difficulties recruiting and this is expected to get worse. Between now and 2030, engineering and technology jobs are predicted to grow faster than other areas.
To grow the size and diversity of the workforce, it is vital that we have more young people, and in particular more young women, on pathways to careers in engineering and technology. Currently there are not enough to meet the growth or diversity demand as illustrated in the infographic below. This will also enable more women to benefit from the high employability and above average salaries available in engineering and technology.
There are other underrepresented groups in the workforce, but the much larger scale of underrepresentation or women led to them being the focus for this project. However, many of the outcomes will benefit other underrepresented groups. We are also taking intersectionality into account, recognising that some projects may not benefit everyone in a group equally.
There would, quite literally, be millions more women in the engineering and technology workforce if they progressed in at the same rates as men, which would resolve our workforce shortages. The improved diversity should also enhance productivity and innovation, and better position the UK to achieve net zero. It will also enable more women to benefit from the high employability and above average salaries available in engineering and technology and involved in the complex ethical decisions and trade-offs to be considered as part of the net zero transition.
Task and finish groups
Six task and finish groups have been established to drive collective impact around this vital issue, listed below along with their visions:
- Curriculum and assessment, led by BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT and EngineeringUK
There is evidence that the current curriculum and assessment structure and as a result the teaching approaches, topics and accountability structures, lead girls to be more likely to be disengaged with STEM subjects than boys. This group will work to ensure that the STEM curriculum, assessment materials and teaching materials are inclusive and equally engaging across genders. - Equity and STEM research and change centre, led by Professor Louise Archer, UCL
To fund research, evaluation and capacity-building activities and innovations intended to create greater equity in STEM education pathways and to produce findings, resources and guidance for policy and practice stakeholders to deliver culture change. - Peer mentoring, led by Digital<ALL> and Capital City College
There is some evidence that peer to peer role models is an effective way to encourage more young women into STEM, both for mentees and mentors. This group will scale this model focusing on 11 to 18 educational phase, and primary to secondary transition – with an emphasis on the inclusion of girls as both mentees and mentors. - Project based learning, led by British Science Association and Orbyts, UCL
To ensure that every young person, throughout their educational journey, is enabled to engage with project-based learning that is designed and delivered based on principles that are evidenced to impact those underrepresented in the industry (specifically girls). - Whole school approach to gender equity and inclusive practice, led by EngineeringUK and Tech She Can
To scale a robustly evidenced intervention that increased the number of girls taking AS level Physics by embedding equitable and inclusive practice across all activity in a school (not just STEM subjects). - AI for gender inclusive careers support in schools, led by Future First
To curate an online library of resources, including videos, to be used for teacher CPD on how to use AI, and looking at how to write prompts which ensure query results support gender equity. To develop and test an AI solution for educators which they can use to plan and deliver in class engineering and tech careers activities which foreground gender equity.
As a first task, the collective brought together their thinking and evidence that could be included in responses to the curriculum and assessment review from an inclusion perspective, to ensure that there is equity in the way young people experience STEM education in schools. In addition, content for the Comprehensive Spending Review response included an ask to invest in a research programme to build the evidence base for which interventions result in more and more diverse young people on pathways into the engineering, technology and digital workforce.
If you would like further details or feel your organisation can help any of the above areas of work, please get in touch.
Who’s involved
The gender pathways taskforce is a collective mission bringing together knowledge and expertise from across the industry. As well as the key partners listed above, the task and finish groups and those involved in the workshops include: Apps for Good, Association for Science Education, Atkins Realis, British Science Association, Capital City College, Careers and Enterprise Company, Digital Skills Academy, Digit<ALL>, Dogger Bank Windfarm, Future First, Gender Action - DECSY, HG Foundation, Institution of Engineering and Technology, Innovate UK, King’s College London, NUSTEM, Pearson, SEERIH (The University of Manchester), Stemazing, STEM Learning, Tech She Can and Towards Vision.
Get involved
If you would like further details or feel your organisation can help any of the above areas of work, please get in touch.
