The Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) is supporting the campaign to attract more women into engineering professions by launching an award to mark the centenary of the Women’s Engineering Society (WES).
The award, which will be presented by WES chief executive officer Elizabeth Donnelly, will recognise a woman who has made an outstanding contribution to engineering in the built environment and is a fitting role model for women in the building engineering workforce.
BESA believes engineering professions in general – and building engineering in particular – will not be able to meet future business goals without a far more gender diverse workforce. According to the Office for National Statistics, just 12% of British engineers are women and BESA is backing a WES initiative to raise that figure to 30% by 2030.
“Creating more career opportunities for women in engineering is not just the right thing to do – it is better for our businesses,” says BESA chief executive David Frise. “There is plenty of evidence to show that the most successful companies are those with the most diverse workforces – and how successful can we possibly be if we are, effectively, ignoring 50% of the population.”
Nominations for the BESA Outstanding Woman in Building Engineer Services award are invited via the Association’s website and the winner will be honoured at the event at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel, London on November 21st.
