20/06/2013

Put a Woman Engineer on our Bank Notes

In a letter to the Bank of England today the Women's Engineering Society - the oldest organisation of women engineers in the world - have argued the case for keeping a woman on one of the UK's bank notes, suggesting that by choosing a woman who has excelled in a non-traditional role we would be sending out a great message to young people.

Dawn Bonfield, WES's Vice President says "Young girls need to see that women can succeed in non-traditional roles, and we need to start celebrating the achievements of our pioneering women. We have suggested that one of our electrical engineers such as Caroline Haslett could be featured, or the pilot Amy Johnson. Both women have been past Presidents of the Women's Engineering Society. Ada Lovelace was another well known woman who has made it in a non-traditional career, and this is something we need to talk about and celebrate."

Showing role models in this way will send a clear message to the whole population and especially to young girls that it’s not only men who have been successful in these technical careers, and that we need their input today more than ever. With a skills shortage in engineering forecast it is vital that we encourage girls to consider engineering as a career option.

Next year the Women's Engineering Society will be 95 years old, and was formed originally by the women who took up engineering during World War One when the men were away at war. They will be celebrating this anniversary and also commemorating the start of WW1 with the launch of a National Women in Engineering Day on 23 June 2014. They are calling for organisations and schools to put this date in their diary and start thinking of ways to celebrate our pioneering women in engineering and finding ways of encouraging the next generation of women to consider this exciting career.

Twitter: @wes1919