The number of women working in engineering is on the rise.


According to not-for-profit EngineeringUK the number employed in the sector rose from 562,000 in 2010 to 936,000 in 2021, meaning they make up 16.5 per cent of the workforce.
However, with women still remaining in the minority, positive role models for the next generation are as important as ever.
One such role model is Kate Colebourn, director of curriculum, technical and higher education at Furness College, in Barrow, who is herself a chartered mechanical engineer.
Kate developed her interest in the subject early, learning alongside her father, a mechanic.
"I'd always been very interested in why things work, how things worked and I knew I wanted to do something different,” she said. "It just felt normal. I used to have a little jar of nuts and bolts that I would play with on the wall while he was fixing the car and he used to give me little sheets of metal that I could add them on to and take them off.”

Devon, right, and SiobhanDevon, right, and Siobhan (Image: Furness College)
Two of those beginning their career in engineering at Furness College are Devon, 17, and Siobhan, 16, both from Barrow, who have just finished a level two diploma in mechanical engineering.
Devon grew up with engineering role models in the form of her father, a sheet metal worker who works for BAE’s shipyard in the town, and her aunt, who also works there in project management.

She will begin work at the shipyard herself as an apprentice electrician in September.
Siobhan’s godmother also works at the shipyard and she says she was encouraged to go into engineering by her grandmother, who was keen for her to succeed, having never had the opportunity herself.

"I've always wanted to do engineering from when I first started doing DT at secondary school,” she said.

(Image: Megan Kearney)
Further north, in Whitehaven, Megan Kearney says she has no regrets over embarking on a career in engineering after initially studying business management at Leeds University.
Megan, 26, completed a six-week work placement at Shepley Engineers in the town in the second year of her degree.

"I really fell in love with the people and the company," she said.

She enjoyed the experience so much that she took a part-time job with Shepley, spending three days a week in West Cumbria and commuting to Leeds to finish her degree.