X2 Engineers

It is difficult to find statistics which describe the demography of engineers in the UK oil and gas industry in the context of gender. The demographic survey by UK Oil and Gas  relates primarily to offshore workers. Onshore data in the survey are not presented in terms of gender.

The ETB report that 15% of Chartered Engineer applications are by women. And this proportion is probably representative of X² Engineers in the  industry given that the uptake of engineering by girls  in HE is nationally 15%.

The HESA statistics indicate that although despite considerable effort to promote engineering as a career the proportion of both girls and boys studying engineering at HE level is declining;

The statistics for engineering study should not be interpreted as indicative that girls are under-performing accademically. The proportion of females in HE education is 59% and rising.

The proportion of females in HE studying 'Accademically Challenging' subjects is rising while the proportion of males is static;

The representation of females across the 'Accademically Challenging' subjects varies considerably as demonstarted from the statistics of 2006/07;

These statistics for 2006/07 mean that, nationally, 22% of  boys studying 'Accademically Challenging' subjects study engineering. The figure for girls is 4%.

The statistics for the Aberdeen area pupils are 38% and 5% for boys and girls respectively. The statistic for boys should be heartening to those involved in the promotion of engineering careers in Aberdeen schools. It would be excellent if the proportion for girls could be raised above the national average. Heuristic Support is proposing a Campaign to address this issue