FCC Environment celebrates International Women in Engineering Day
FCC Environment, one of the UK’s leading resource and waste management companies, is celebrating International Women in Engineering Day (INWED) on 23 June to raise the profile of women who work in engineering, as well as to highlight the wide-ranging career opportunities available to women in the waste and energy sector.
INWED is an international awareness campaign run by the Women’s Engineering Society and was first established in 2014. The campaign aims to celebrate the work of female engineers around the world and encourage more women to enter the profession, profiling those who undertake everyday ‘heroics’ as much as emergency ones.
FCC Environment is a partner member of the Energy and Utility Skills Group, according to which: “Up to 67,000 engineers, technicians and craftspeople are needed in the energy and utilities sector over the next decade. There’s an immediate need for practical, hands-on, technical problem solvers who have the desire and initiative to manage, to lead and develop a career in engineering.”
The UK currently has the lowest proportion of female engineers in Europe. The waste and recycling industry is particularly male dominated, where just 15.8 per cent of the workforce are female and the majority of those roles are in administrative and customer service positions[1].
FCC Environment’s Head of Human Resources, Lesley Callaghan said: “International Women in Engineering Day is a really important occasion to showcase some of the amazing work women in engineering do within the waste and recycling industry and the vital role they play in providing the essential services on which we all rely.
“With the global focus on climate change and a more circular economy, as we look to meet our Net Zero targets, innovations and technology are constantly evolving within the sector, bringing career development in a fast-paced and ever-changing environment, so it’s an exciting time to join, especially as an engineer.”
“There is a huge diversity of jobs at all levels for women in the sector and the technical challenges and opportunities are endless. I hope that International Women in Engineering Day helps to inspire more women to enter the profession.”
[1] EU Skills Waste Industry Profile