I think part of the reason that women aren't entering the profession starts such a young age. At school in the 90s, I was very interested in STEM topics and yet the career guidance I was given was to go into teaching, so I could teach STEM topics to others. It wasn't even suggested to me that I consider a STEM career myself! Until my late 20s, the only engineers I had heard of were people who came to fix the boiler or those who performed constant delays on train lines. I had no idea of the breadth of careers that engineering held. If I knew then what I know now, I'm sure I definitely would've considered engineering as a career path.

That said, there is a large number of women who are becoming more aware of engineering skills and engineering careers now that STEM is taking a bigger role in the school curriculum. Women who were not encouraged into STEM careers are now learning about STEM careers through their children. Unfortunately, many of these mothers (and fathers too) have no knowledge of or access to STEM topics themselves and are perhaps not best placed to encourage their children in these fields. Perhaps the IET could run more access courses for adults, rather than relying on growing the membership through a new generation of young graduates and apprentices. 

In this vein, there are many other talent pools that the IET could recruit from. The number of people leaving the teaching profession in huge, and many of those leaving may have advanced STEM skills bubbling under the surface that might need just the slightest nudge to switch careers - perhaps the IET could try recruiting in the NTU magazines with conversion/access courses? Same too for other female-dominant professions, such as nursing, which has a high number of educated, capable people, leaving in droves and looking for a change.

I think part of the reason that women aren't entering the profession starts such a young age. At school in the 90s, I was very interested in STEM topics and yet the career guidance I was given was to go into teaching, so I could teach STEM topics to others. It wasn't even suggested to me that I consider a STEM career myself! Until my late 20s, the only engineers I had heard of were people who came to fix the boiler or those who performed constant delays on train lines. I had no idea of the breadth of careers that engineering held. If I knew then what I know now, I'm sure I definitely would've considered engineering as a career path.

That said, there is a large number of women who are becoming more aware of engineering skills and engineering careers now that STEM is taking a bigger role in the school curriculum. Women who were not encouraged into STEM careers are now learning about STEM careers through their children. Unfortunately, many of these mothers (and fathers too) have no knowledge of or access to STEM topics themselves and are perhaps not best placed to encourage their children in these fields. Perhaps the IET could run more access courses for adults, rather than relying on growing the membership through a new generation of young graduates and apprentices. 

In this vein, there are many other talent pools that the IET could recruit from. The number of people leaving the teaching profession in huge, and many of those leaving may have advanced STEM skills bubbling under the surface that might need just the slightest nudge to switch careers - perhaps the IET could try recruiting in the NTU magazines with conversion/access courses? Same too for other female-dominant professions, such as nursing, which has a high number of educated, capable people, leaving in droves and looking for a change.