“Yes, you can be a woman in engineering \u2013 seeing a woman in the role helps reinforce that,” Emma Hudson, Trustee at Electrical Safety First explains, as she champions female engineers this International Women in Engineering Day (23 June 2024).<\/p>\n
Representation is important to Emma, someone who recalls a 25-year rich career in engineering, facing gender bias and a male-dominated environment.<\/p>\n
Yet whilst representation of women in engineering has increased since 2010, women working in engineering roles sits at just over 16% in the UK.<\/p>\n
Emma is just one of many women at the charity, Electrical Safety First, which prides itself on its technical expertise when it comes to championing consumer protection from dangerous products. Emma sits on its Board of Trustees, she is one of five female members of the Board. The charity\u2019s CEO, Lesley Rudd, and chair, Sarah Frost, are also female and keen champions of representation in the workplace.<\/p>\n
Early in her career, Emma faced numerous obstacles, including a lack of female representation and supportive networks. She recalls almost not getting a role early on in her career because one person believed she was going to leave and have a baby.<\/p>\n
Overcoming gender biases, particularly during her work overseas, Emma highlights the importance of persistence and mentorship.<\/p>\n
Her experience in Japan many years ago was particularly important. At the age of 26, she found herself working in a factory where there were no other women engineers. Despite the cultural challenges, Emma kept going and demonstrated her expertise.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like if I had been a male engineer at that time I wouldn\u2019t have had to do quite as much\u201d she says reflecting on feeling the pressure to prove her expertise in this overseas environment at the time. \u201cKeep going, show them what you’re made of”,\u201d she advises young women entering the field.<\/p>\n
Emma\u2019s dedication and resilience have helped her overcome these biases. She emphasises the importance of finding mentors, stating, \u201cFind your advocates. Lots of women and men out there will happily mentor you on your journey.\u201d<\/p>\n
Product safety engineers at the charity include Carolyn Flynn, who has dedicated over four decades to electrical product safety, starting her career as a lab technician at the age of 19.<\/p>\n
Carolyn\u2019s mother, who grew up in the 1950s, encouraged her to pursue a male-oriented job with the belief at the time it would provide for better opportunities and salaries, Carolyn entered a field where she often found herself to be one of only a handful of woman in the room. \u201cIt\u2019s always been a pleasure working with the men I’ve worked with\u201d Carolyn says. She also acknowledges whilst her experiences have been positive she hopes things have become easier for younger women today. \u201cI\u2019m now working with a lot of young women across various departments at Electrical Safety First,\u201d Carolyn adds.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEngineering offers a world of opportunities,\u201d Carolyn says. \u201cIf you go into engineering on a general level, the doors open all over the place, things that you don’t expect. If you’ve got a good engineering background, the world is almost your oyster. And I think you’d be surprised what you could come across. Go for it, that\u2019s what I’d say!\u201d<\/p>\n
This International Women in Engineering Day, Electrical Safety First want to recognise and celebrate the achievements of women, like Emma and Carolyn. Their stories are reminders that engineering is a field in need of continued representation as they champion more women to enter the field.<\/p>\n
Encouraging more women to enter the field Emma comments, \u201cGo for it, it\u2019s a great career to have and you can make a difference. Don\u2019t be afraid of it being male-dominated, we need young women to come into engineering to change it. Organisations like WISE (Women in Science and Engineering) are great for finding mentors too. Just do it,\u201d Emma adds, \u201cEngineering has been great for me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“Yes, you can be a woman in engineering \u2013 seeing a woman in the role helps reinforce that,” Emma Hudson, Trustee at Electrical Safety First explains, as she champions female engineers this International Women in Engineering Day (23 June 2024). Representation is important to Emma, someone who recalls a 25-year rich career in engineering, facing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21083,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-news","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/47efb76370064196b8c00ede51be8cfc.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21082"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21084,"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21082\/revisions\/21084"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}