News story: Raising the bar for women in engineering

The theme for this year’s campaign is ‘Raising the Bar’.

We are proud to have hundreds of female engineers at Sellafield and in the supply chain – working on a nationally important mission to reduce the UK’s nuclear hazard

We also have the highest female apprentice intake of any STEM employer in the UK – at 41%, so we’re moving in the right direction.

Thousands of people will be proudly holding a ‘selfie card’ to show solidarity for equality, diversity and inclusion within the engineering profession.

The new Women in Nuclear (WiN) Cumbria branch has been running the campaign, and has the support of Sellafield Ltd, local MPs and other businesses across the county.

Chair of WiN Cumbria, Claire Gallery-Strong, said:

This is such an historic year for gender issues, with the suffrage centenary, the gender pay gap debate and the #MeToo movement in Hollywood, there has never been a more relevant time for people to come together in solidarity for gender balance.

This is not about one organisation or one individual, change can only happen as a collective effort.

The #INWED18 campaign is a great chance to showcase the inspirational role models we have, from female engineering apprentices to senior female engineering leaders.

The campaign has been supported by MPs Sue Hayman andTrudy Harrison, aswell as employees from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, Sellafield Ltd and other companies throughout Cumbria and Warrington..

Members of Britain’s Energy Coast Business Cluster (BECBC) were keen to get on board and arranged a photo opportunity at their most recent member meeting.

BECBC Board Chairman, Ivan Baldwin said:

Inclusion is important to the Business Cluster and our members , on many levels, so we were keen to get involved with this campaign and to help in promoting Women in Engineering to our members too.

We’ll continue to be an active ambassador for equality and diversity in the region whether that’s through the gender balance of our elected Board or the appointment of a Shadow Board of younger people from our sector.

To get involved you can print off your selfie cards at www.inwed.org.uk/selfiecards and share them using the hashtag #INWED18.