Member Article

Region Recognised for Encouraging More Female Engineers

The President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) visited the region last week and commended the efforts of a Leeds-based business in encouraging more women into the sector.

Carolyn Griffiths visited medical devices manufacturer, DePuy Synthes, part of the Johnson & Johnson family of companies, during a tour of the region and heard about the dedicated STEM outreach team that create and run a series of events to encourage and inspire a young and diverse talent pipeline to consider a career in medical technology.

At DePuy Synthes world-leading R&D site in Beeston, Leeds, 37% of its engineering workforce are female, however nationally, just 11% of the UK engineering workforce are female[1].

Ms Griffiths praised the programme of employee engagement opportunities led by the DePuy Synthes Leeds STEM committee, which include Healthcare Insight visits, running workshops and career spotlight talks at local schools and colleges. As part of a dedicated WiSTEM2D (Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Manufacturing, Maths and Design programme), the team delivers a programme of STEM activities across the region showcasing strong female role models to the local community. The team’s activity reached over 2,000 young people in 2017 alone.

After completing a tour of the site, which is one of the leading orthopaedic development facilities in the world, Carolyn presented Chartered Engineer certificates to a number of DePuy Synthes employees who are now members of the IMechE.

The President has previously spoken about the skills shortage and gender imbalance facing engineering in the UK and has pledged to work proactively and collaboratively with others to find solutions to the issues.

Ms Griffiths, who is the third female president in the IMechE’s 170-year history, commented: “It is vitally important that young people, but in particular young women, are encouraged to study STEM subjects and work in these industries. Everyone benefits from having a diverse workforce, whether that’s in the classroom or in the workshops or the boardrooms. I was hugely impressed by the STEM outreach led by the engineering team that inspires the next generation of engineers. I am also delighted that there is such a strong commitment to professional registration from DePuy Synthes, and that the company is playing a major part in tackling the gender imbalance among Chartered engineers.”

Dr. Michael Barker, World Wide Vice President of Research & Development for DePuy Synthes Joint Reconstruction and Power Tools, said: “We are incredibly proud of our whole engineering team as well as the proportion of female engineers at our Leeds site. We believe that having a diverse workforce is crucial to developing innovative medical devices to address the unmet needs of patients and surgeons. It was a privilege to host the President and hear about the continuous work being done to address the shortfall of female engineers in the UK, and showcase to her the work being carried out by our STEM team in the region to support this.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Helen Bailey .