It is widely acknowledged that despite contributing to the engineering profession, women are still largely under-represented. In fact, according to Engineers Australia, women make up 12 percent of the engineering workforce, and only 51.2 percent of those who qualify as engineers actually work in the engineering profession.
Having a gender diverse workforce doesn’t just benefit those women hoping to pursue a career in engineering. From a business perspective, greater gender diversity leads to greater organisational performance, innovation and higher rates of employee retention. For this reason alone, it is beneficial for engineering organisations to make diversifying their workforce a priority.
According to President of Engineers Australia’s Queensland Division, Chris Nielson, there is no fundamental reason whatsoever why there shouldn’t be more women in engineering in Australia; 35% of engineers in Europe are women. Iran has more than 50% women in engineering and 70% of all STEM graduates are women.
“Similar representation needs to be achieved in Australia if we are to continue our place as global leaders,” he says. “A lack of women in our profession profoundly limits us, both in terms of absolute numbers of engineers and also in our ability to effectively function in a world where there are as many women as men. As has been quoted several times, the engineering profession in Australia has left half the team on the bench, a situation which hasn’t significantly improved in a generation.”
With March marking International Women’s Day, it is timely to consider what Australia’s engineering employers can do to better support and retain female employees to achieve improved productivity, efficiency and results.
Here are some considerations when it comes to strengthening your organisation’s gender strategy and improving diversity.
Assess you policies
It’s commonly understood in business that “what gets measured gets managed”, and this is often one of the most important steps that is missing when it come to improving organisational gender diversity. Without specific benchmarks and targets being committed to and, even more importantly, tied to leader’s KPIs, it can be difficult to achieve real and sustainable change.
Organisations can begin the process of bettering their diversity strategy by assessing their current policies around gender diversity and asking themselves if they are measurable and actionable. Who is responsible for seeing these actions through? And what might the consequences be for not meeting these targets?
It is also important to make these policies and your gender strategy public and easily accessible to your workforce. By making your organisational stance openly known and engaging employees in the conversation, it will begin to build a culture that encourages diversity and makes women feel more comfortable in the male-dominated setting.
Consider bias during the hiring process
Whether conscious or not, bias is something that can occur within the hiring process. A report from Professionals Australia found that unconscious gender bias was prevalent during the hiring process in STEM professions, and was a major factor in the underrepresentation of women in the industry. In fact, 75.9 percent of those surveyed believed that unconscious bias was prevalent within their organisation.
Mitigating unconscious bias from the hiring process can be difficult, however there are strategies an organisation can implement to reduce its occurrence. Firstly, training hiring managers and those who conduct job interviews will play an important role in helping people identify and understand their bias and how it may impact on their decision-making process. It will also be important to monitor the hiring process, so as to identify and address any possible patterns of bias.
It can be useful to engage a third-party recruitment company to assist with this step if you feel unconscious bias may exist within your company. Professional recruitment consultants have processes in place to reduce unconscious bias and ensure candidates are being hired based on their skill and experience.
Look at your language
According to the Diversity Council of Australia’s “Words at Work” report, the choice of words used in the implementation of gender diversity action can have an impact on the way people think and act. Language can be used to include or exclude groups, encourage or discourage participation, and unite or divide people.
Choice of words can be particularly important when considering the attrition of females to the engineering profession. It has been shown that words associated with masculinity, which are typically used in advertisements of STEM jobs, have been found to decrease the likelihood of women applying for these roles.
Organisations can seek to change this and potentially widen their talent pool by using inclusive, gender-neutral language that, instead of being associated with stereotypes, emphasises enthusiasm, growth, and innovation.
Flexibility and work life balance
A major cause for women exiting the engineering profession has been shown to be the lack of flexibility that allows them to maintain the kind of work-life balance typically required to have children and raise a family.
In a case study conducted by Engineers Australia, it was found that those organisations that offered flexibility around working hours, part-time work and maternity leave were successful in retaining a greater number of female employees. This is something for organisations to consider when implementing their own gender diversity strategy. It not only helps women further their careers in engineering and gives them a chance to take on more senior roles, but also allows employers to benefit from the resources they have invested in these individuals, such as mentoring and training.
Offer support and career development opportunities
In the study “Stemming the Tide: Why Women Leave Engineering”, it was discovered that the most satisfied female engineers were those who received support from supervisors and co-workers, ample opportunities for training and development and saw clear paths for advancement in the company. The least satisfied women engineers were those who experienced excessive workloads and whose efforts by being successful were systematically undermined by their supervisors and co-workers.
Furthermore, the women working in engineering expressed that lack of career advancement and promotion had given them reason to consider quitting their job and leaving the profession altogether.
In this way, it may be important for organisations to consider the opportunities that are being offered to their female employees to better utilise their talents and increase retention. This can be achieved by providing clear, visible, and transparent paths to advancement by articulating the criteria for promotion, implementing fair, performance-based systems for promotion, and offering multiple opportunities for mobility.
If you require assistance in achieving greater diversity within your recruitment process, or wish to reach a wider talent pool, contact us today.
