The engineering sector is currently facing a significant skills shortage, with estimates suggesting that an additional 100,000 engineers will be needed Australia-wide to cover proposed projects out to 2030.

With females making up just 11.2 percent of the engineering workforce in Australia, it’s clear there is a huge untapped resource when it comes to employing women within the field. 

Each year, on June 23, International Women in Engineering Day serves to acknowledge the valuable contribution women make to the engineering sector, celebrate their achievements and encourage more young women and girls to enter the field of engineering.

To mark the occasion, Bayside Group invited some of our clients’ senior female engineers to provide insights into what it was like building a career in a male-dominated industry, how workforce representation has changed over the years, challenges they’ve overcome and what more they believe needs to be done to achieve parity.   

Shereen Amin – Senior Structural Engineer, Coates 

After graduating with an engineering degree in 2004 in Egypt, Shereen has since gone on to work for several organisations across the span of her career. To date, she has worked overseas designing everything from factories and residential buildings to large commercial developments. Moving to Australia in 2015, she now works as a Senior Structural Engineer at Coates designing Hydraulic shoring and temporary works.

Q: Can you tell me a bit about what interested you in becoming an engineer? 

A: When I was growing up in Egypt, my dad designed a house for our family. I remember being so interested in how engineers would transform his drawings, design and dreams into a real house we would live in. I've also always loved maths and problem solving, and engineering sounded so interesting to me. Before I applied for college, I began researching engineering, its requirements and what would be involved in an engineering role. 

What I love about the field is that no two projects are the same. You need to have a different approach to each project and utilise different methods of problem solving to overcome the unique challenges of each build. It’s so diverse and really makes you think in different ways. Perhaps what’s most rewarding however, is seeing the projects come to life – whatever you’ve designed on paper becomes a real-life experience for people where they can live or work. 

Q: What was the experience of progressing your career like?  

A: I’ve always been hungry to learn as much as possible about engineering, and I think that’s very important within a field like this, because there really is so much to master!

Every time I moved to a different country, role or company, I had to learn the relevant codes, or how to work with new materials or structures. Everything is specialised and there’s so much grasp. I really progressed by embracing the task of continuously learning and putting myself in uncomfortable situations where I didn’t know everything. 

Q: Do you feel like you experienced any sets backs as a result of being a woman in a very male dominated industry? 

A: For the most part, I would say no. However, there was an instance several years ago when I was still working overseas where I was offered the opportunity to become a team leader, which required me to be available 24/7 and work weekends. But as a mother of two children, that simply wasn’t possible for me. If they had been willing to provide more flexibility within the role, then perhaps I would have been able to move into that leadership position. 

Q: What kind of initiatives has Coats implemented to champion women in engineering? 

Coates has quite a few initiatives to help support and empower women at work. For example, last year they announced a flexible working hours program, so mothers who work have the ability to drop their kids at school or pick them up. 

Secondly, they have the Leadership, Excellence and Performance Program (LEAP), which is designed to identify and develop high performing future female leaders at Coates. Each year, 24 women are nominated, of which I was one, to undergo an eight-month program that builds on our leadership capabilities. While not strictly limited to female engineers, I believe it’s these kinds of programs that will help to create more parity for women within the engineering workforce – and more generally – over time. 

Rose Ferguson – Director, Balfer Engineering Consulting 

Born in the Philippines and to parents who owned a construction company, Rose has since gone on to forge a career path in engineering that has spanned more than 20 years. Over the years, her work as a civil engineer grew into design and project management, seeing her become responsible for a wide range of complex multi-disciplinary infrastructure projects. In 2019, she founded Balfer Engineering Consulting, which specialises in project management and delivery. In the same year, she was a Women in Industry Awards finalist in the categories of ‘Excellence in Engineering’ and ‘Excellence in Road Transport’.

Q: You began working as a civil engineer. What drew you towards that as a career?

A: It was an industry I had exposure to from a very young age, as my parents owned a construction company in the Philippines. My parents their business in our garage and growing it to a workforce of more than 300 staff across the Philippines and New Zealand.

I spent a lot of my school holidays on work sites with my father and I loved seeing the rubble and sand transform into a structure. I think what I loved most, was that these infrastructures really gave back –  they were an essential contribution to the community at large, and would be for generations to come. And to this day that’s what I still love about the engineering sector: creating infrastructure, whether its green spaces, roads or bridges, that connects communities. 

Q: How have you seen the industry change over time with regards to female representation and inclusion? 

A: I’ve personally always had a positive experience within the engineering sector, however I’m a big advocate for increasing female representation and inclusion, because even in this day and age, women are still such a minority in this space.

When I graduated from my Bachelor of Engineering in 1999, I was one of only three women out of 60 graduates in my class! During this time, as well as the early stages of my career, I felt this pressure to act like “one of the boys” in order to belong. But I hope that for women entering the sector now it’s different. Women should feel confident in being themselves and owning their voice. And while most engineering organisations and councils are trying to increase female representation, I think we still have a way to go with regards to changing the culture within the industry itself.   

Q: In 2019 you founded your own engineering consultancy, Balfer. What made you want to do this and how do you ensure women are on an equal playing field to their male counterparts.

A: In 2018 I became unwell and took six months off work. During that time, I had an “ah-ha moment”, where I realised there might be a way for me to achieve a true work-life balance. After years of extreme pressure and stress, managing teams of 50 plus people, I realised that starting my own consultancy would allow me to continue doing what I loved, while still having life.

At Balfer, I take an active role in seeking women out and giving them the recognition they deserve. We’re a small operation, and 70 percent of my engineers are actually female, as that’s where my networks are. Everyone gets the same flexibility, and I ensure everyone receives the same level of opportunity. 

Q: What more do you think needs to be done to encourage more women to begin working within the engineering sector? 

A: So much of it comes back to culture and changing the way that people view the engineering sector. I think this needs to start at the early stages of people’s education, when they’re deciding on potential career pathways. So many people see engineering as a geeky, technical sector that’s better suited to men. But it’s also such a fun and creative area to work, and it just needs to be marketed differently.

There’s a lot of opportunity to expose girls and young women to inspiring, successful female engineers throughout their schooling. Change needs to happen early on to establish different perceptions and educate women about the various career paths they might enjoy.