Looming highest of all the landmarks that decorate London’s dramatic cityscape, The Shard is one of the most talked about, since construction started on it just over a decade ago.
What is less heralded, however, is the fact that a key player in the construction of the 309 metre, 95-storey skyscraper was female engineer Roma Agrawal.
While such an influential woman engineer was involved in a high profile project such as The Shard, ten years on, is the engineering sector is doing enough to harness the potential of women?
Shortly after The Shard’s completion, Vince Cable labelled the UK as the worst in Europe for its poor attempts at hiring women engineers.
Are the industry’s big players paying any more attention to the huge amount of female engineering talent that is out there?
While there is much to be applauded with STEM education initiatives, girls and women may see that engineering jobs are plentiful, but could still see a male dominated arena. And that can clearly be off-putting.
Are women receiving wide-ranging enough advice about how they can access a sector that interests them? If not, then the problem of getting women into engineering positions becomes really acute.
Even if women are made aware of viable routes into the industry, how could the sector do more for them?
