Leonardo-Finmeccanica Engineers challenge outmoded stereotypes on National Women in Engineering Day
Recent research conducted by EngineeringUK confirms that a host of organisations, including universities, media outlets and search engines are still guilty of reinforcing gender stereotypes through their choice of engineering images online. Their study revealed that 85% of engineering image searches and 81% of stock engineering images featured men.
To address this imbalance, both male and female engineers at Leonardo-Finmeccanica gave their support to this year’s National Women in Engineering Day (NWED) in Edinburgh, to challenge outmoded stereotypes surrounding engineering.
They did this by guiding the girls through a series of confidence building exercises that would help them reassess their existing ideas of engineering and perhaps most importantly, open conversations about engineering as a potential career path. The Edinburgh site welcomed attendees from Craigroyston Primary, Forthview Primary and Pirniehall Primary schools.
2016 marks the second year of a five year STEM study which Leonardo-Finmeccanica is conducting to learn whether intervention through informal STEM activities can affect girls’ attitudes to STEM careers.
As part of this activity, the girls started the day by answering a series of simple questions about their assumptions and attitudes towards science and engineering careers and their ability to pursue them. This same questionnaire was then circulated at the end of the day to record whether a shift in attitude had been achieved through the day’s activities.
Another, longer questionnaire was also circulated to attendees to dig a little deeper into their preferences in terms of school subjects and role models. It is hoped that providing the girls with direct experiences of female and male role models might encourage them to find engineering and science more appealing.
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