Youngsters reject engineering due to lack of awareness

Hi Maria,



Thank you very much for your comments on this thread. You have made some very valid points and we will continue to monitor the types of images that we publish.



I do, however, feel that it is important to highlight some of the work that the IET does to challenge perceptions within the engineering industry.



There are many organizations, PR Companies that use far too many library images of engineers in hard hats. This is one of the reasons that the on November 6th, the IET launched a campaign called Real Engineer on the IET Twitter page asking, ''Why do people always assume that engineers wear hard hats and boiler suits?''  This campaign was launched in order to challenge some of the stereotypes of hard hats and building sites, not to try and suggest that we all work on them.

 

The IET may use some images of engineers in hard hats, which is a fair representation of a number of sectors within engineering. However, these are not the only images that we use - when we do, these images are usually of real engineers / IET Members that do a lot of work to support the institution and represent that particular field.  For example, the link that you highlighted is, as you know, an image of YWE Award finalist and Ambassador for women in engineering, Roma Agrawal. Roma is also an Associate Structural Engineer for WSP and has worked on the Shard at London Bridge and has done a lot of work for the IET in terms of, encouraging girls into engineering, challenging stereotypes and supporting women in industry.



We also have a role models section on the Women's Network group that represents a growing number of female engineers from different backgrounds / sectors, to help further challenger perceptions and inspire others.

 

Whilst it is important to represent the various roles within engineering, it is equally important not to discriminate against or underrepresent a particular sector.

We will continue to work towards striking a balanced representation.

 

Kind regards,

Jo

Hi Maria,



Thank you very much for your comments on this thread. You have made some very valid points and we will continue to monitor the types of images that we publish.



I do, however, feel that it is important to highlight some of the work that the IET does to challenge perceptions within the engineering industry.



There are many organizations, PR Companies that use far too many library images of engineers in hard hats. This is one of the reasons that the on November 6th, the IET launched a campaign called Real Engineer on the IET Twitter page asking, ''Why do people always assume that engineers wear hard hats and boiler suits?''  This campaign was launched in order to challenge some of the stereotypes of hard hats and building sites, not to try and suggest that we all work on them.

 

The IET may use some images of engineers in hard hats, which is a fair representation of a number of sectors within engineering. However, these are not the only images that we use - when we do, these images are usually of real engineers / IET Members that do a lot of work to support the institution and represent that particular field.  For example, the link that you highlighted is, as you know, an image of YWE Award finalist and Ambassador for women in engineering, Roma Agrawal. Roma is also an Associate Structural Engineer for WSP and has worked on the Shard at London Bridge and has done a lot of work for the IET in terms of, encouraging girls into engineering, challenging stereotypes and supporting women in industry.



We also have a role models section on the Women's Network group that represents a growing number of female engineers from different backgrounds / sectors, to help further challenger perceptions and inspire others.

 

Whilst it is important to represent the various roles within engineering, it is equally important not to discriminate against or underrepresent a particular sector.

We will continue to work towards striking a balanced representation.

 

Kind regards,

Jo