International Women in Engineering Day – 23 June 2023
This year, INWED 2023 is celebrating its 10th birthday! This year’s theme – Make Safety Seen – will celebrate the incredible achievements of female engineers, who are engaged in safety and security helping to create a better world for us all.
This is an opportunity for all women in engineering, plus allies and supporters, to spread the word. We are proud of our partnership with Women in Engineering Society and to celebrate #INWED23. We have spoken to some of our talented and inspiring women, who have shared their insights for making safety seen across the business.
International Women in Engineering Day (INWED) is an annual day of recognition to support and attract more women to a field where only 16.5% to 20% of engineering professionals are women, the annual INWED event provides female engineers with an opportunity to shine in an industry where they are still hugely underrepresented. As the only event of its kind, INWED plays a vital role in encouraging more young women and girls to take up engineering careers. Be part of an event that is set to make a difference!
It is organised by the Women’s Engineering Society, a U.K.-based organization that offers inspiration, support and professional development to women engineers, scientists and technologists. It is also recognized by UNESCO since 2016.
It is celebrated on 23 June every year around the world, to honour women inventors and innovators who are changing the world and building a brighter future. It coincides with the anniversary of the Women’s Engineering Society, which was established on June 23, 1919.
Everyone deserves to go home to their families at the end of each day – whether that’s our colleagues, customers, clients, communities or our supply chain partners. Therefore, safety is at the core of everything we design across all of our projects – it’s important that our teams out on site are able to work and build in a safe environment across all of our projects.”
Rachel Huston, Principal Civil Engineer
As a Principal Engineer, my role is to oversee and manage every aspect of our projects to their completion. Safety underpins everything I do – from the first site visit, through the design stages into construction and commission – and finally to completion. No day is the same and you get involved in lots of exciting projects that make a difference in the communities we work within. It’s an interesting and fast-paced industry to work in and I would encourage any female to find out more about how you can join this industry.”
Sarah Collins, Principal Process Engineer
Working on the clean water network is a vital role. Whilst renewing mains and many other works conducted across the network, I ensure that the water coming through to customers’ taps is safe to drink. Maintaining excellent health and safety standards across all operations ensures we are working in a secure and safe manner. Throughout my role, I face many challenges, but having the most appropriate and up-to-date training and guidance ensures that I’m supported to always work at the highest standards, working alongside regular audits. We also have weekly health and safety briefings to keep practices fresh alongside reporting near misses to help prevent future accidents and near misses.”
Ami Crump, Network Valve Technician
Health and Safety is paramount for any business to function. In the utilities sector, there are so many exciting and varied career paths for women, and as a company, we realise that having a diverse workforce is good for business. Women are becoming more visible in this sector, and it is important that we continue to look at our ways of working to ensure that women are represented across the business and have a voice to make a positive change.”
Liz Groundland, Head of HSEQ
It’s important to encourage women to work within IT as we can bring a different approach to how we operate. At Avove, we have a number of complex operational IT systems that hold our core data. Working in the Business Technology team, we ensure that the storage and processing of any electronic data is stable, secure and compliant with data protection laws. In the procurement of new systems, we also make sure our suppliers adhere to good security practices and uphold the same compliance and legal standards in order for us to work with them.”
Renee Mitchell, Business Technology Group Project Manager
Now in its tenth year, International Women in Engineering Day plays a vital role in encouraging more women and girls to take up careers in the utilities and construction sector.
“Avove is a supporter of this initiative, and we recognise the benefit of having a much more diverse and inclusive environment in which to work. As a sector, we know we need to do more! Through our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategy, we are working hard to make sure that we broaden our appeal and to encourage women to look at the variety of roles we offer across our business. Our partnerships with Women in Engineering Society and Women in Utilities Network will help us to connect and share knowledge and signifies a step in the right direction.”
Jade Lester, Head of Communications and Social Impact
In my role I want to inspire women to join the sector and succeed in the Civil Engineering Industry – as there’s no mountain that we cannot climb’’.
Hannah Leary, Assistant Engineer
I work in the Environmental team – made up predominantly of women which is fantastic to see in such a male-dominated industry. Environmental impact is taken seriously at Avove and is in everything we do, so we never know when our input is needed. Our team works across our sites and clients ensuring that the impacts to the geographical environment are kept to a minimum whilst facilitating works, and where possible leaving the environment in a better position once our works are complete. It is a massively eye-opening and interesting sector to work in and I would encourage anyone to take a look at STEM careers.”
Fran Vincent, Senior Environmentalist