If you asked my 7-year-old daughter what she wants to be when she grows up, she would quickly answer that she wants to be a teacher. If you asked my 9-year-old son what he wants to be when he grows up, he would proudly tell you that he wants to be an engineer. These answers make sense considering that my daughter loves reading books and taking care of her Bratz doll while my son enjoys looking up science experiments and making bottles explode with Mentos.

What’s so wrong about this story? After all, we need teachers as much as we need engineers. Besides, what a child wants to be when he or she is in primary school isn’t necessarily indicative of their future career choices... right?

Image Courtesy: Caroline Hernandez

Fast-forward eight more years. In 2017, the trend that started in primary school that encourages girls to go into the humanities and boys to go into engineering and mathematics has prevailed throughout high school, college, and well into the workplace. The stereotypes we ingrain into our children at as early an age as four or five don’t just magically disappear when they get older. Instead, those stereotypes strengthen as children grow older and continue to explore the society that continually reinforces these stereotypes.

This is why it so important that we encourage more women to go into the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Fewer and fewer female students are enrolling in physics and technology classes as the years go by. So, why is it so important to encourage more women to go into STEM fields? In a country in which the average women still earns 77 cents for every dollar that a man earns, and in a country in which the majority of single parents are single mothers, getting more women into STEM could both reduce the gender wage gap and ensure that single mothers don’t have to struggle to put food on the table. Not only are there currently more jobs in STEM than in any other industry, but most of these high-tech jobs are high-paying, as well.

Can we do anything to help the gender gap in STEM? Yes, yes we can. If girls see that most of their female mentors and older female friends aren’t going into STEM, they are less likely to go into those fields themselves. Part of the reason behind this phenomenon is the stereotype threat, which states that if we are aware of a stereotype, we are more likely to act in accordance with it. In order to help our young girls to not be afraid of STEM fields such as engineering, older girls and young women need to show that we are not afraid of these fields ourselves.

Individually, we can’t change the fact girls make up a very small percentage of the engineers, and scientists shown on television and in movies. What we can do, however, is make a difference in the lives of the young girls we know personally. And one day, the young girls we help will grow up to cure diseases, write computer programs, discover the next technological advances, and ultimately change the world.

About the Author

Michelle Unger is based in the UK and has been following the progress of WISE as we have grown and gained momentum. Michelle has a strong history within the industry and is responsible for the curriculum for MSc in Subsea Engineering and Management for Newcastle University. She is currently the Head of the Group Business Line 'Education Systems and Services' for the ROSEN Group.

As a way of showing her support and contributing to the WISE Network, Michelle has authored the below discussion-piece identifying the top 10 challenges facing women in Science and Engineering.

Whenever you see this type of article, written by a woman, you expect to read about the difficulties a woman has developing a career (and there are still difficulties), the delays in career progression caused by child birth (and there are delays), etc., but I want to start by saying the world has now changed for women. We see this in politics and international affairs. We all know about Angela Merkel in Germany, and in the UK (where I live), the UK prime minister is Theresa May, and the first minister in Scotland is Nicola Sturgeon. Women dominate political leadership in the UK, with women leading many of the political parties (e.g., Green Party, Plaid Cymru (Wales), and the Democratic Unionist Party), and the UK parliament has 208 female MPs (32% of total). We (women) need to ensure other professions feel a similar impact.

My Background

I am from Bogota, in Colombia, and studied Civil Engineering at Los Andes University in Colombia in the early 1990s. I was one of 15 girls in a cohort of 110 students: this (14%) is a very high percentage for a South American country. I always thought this percentage would increase with time; however, it has decreased considerably over the last couple of decades. Now, it is less than 10% in most countries in Latin America.

I now work in the UK, for a German company, and it is the same story here. 51% of the UK population are female, but only one in six (17%) of engineering undergraduates in the UK are women. This percentage drops dramatically after graduation: only 8% of professional engineers are female, and when we recruit female engineers we discover that four in ten leave the profession.

Are these low figures due to: actual interest in science and engineering careers; the remuneration; the male-dominated environment; or, the fact that we do not see many women in senior posts in engineering?

Let me give you my personal view on the reasons for these low figures, and I will group them into ‘challenges’, which can be addressed.

Challenge 1

Being a woman means that we are faced with the traditional barriers to career progression, and the biological barrier of having children, but both of these barriers can be managed.

Engineering is a male-dominated profession: in the USA, women make up only 13% of the engineering workforce[1]. The UK has similar statistics[2]. Engineering is mainly men; but, that is fine. Medicine was originally 100% men. Now, in the UK, 45% of doctors are female[3]. Let’s keep decreasing these gaps.

In my personal experience, I have not seen any bias in terms of female achievement compared to our male colleagues. I have worked with successful women, who are fairly paid, and have been promoted on merit. But the sample is small – you do not see many of them.

There are also certain jobs that female workers would prefer not to take. A female colleague once said she was excited before her first ‘Offshore Survey’ assignment on a ship in the UK North Sea – it was a great opportunity to gain experience, and it was seen as ‘we can [as girls] do it too’ attitude. I also remember when she came back from the assignment, and said: ‘it was the worst 2 weeks of my life’– and although she was very well-remunerated, she added ‘I would never do it again. It is not for us’. It is not easy for a woman to fit into a traditionally male-dominated environment and facilities, but I know of many men who do not like this type of work, and ‘is not for them’. That should not stop women changing this tradition.

Challenge 2

We need to actively encourage girls to enter engineering. We know women find engineering rewarding: 98% of women in engineering consider it a rewarding career[4]. We need to send this message out to other women, but we do not do a good job. Let me illustrate this point…

When I asked my daughter if she would consider engineering (both her parents are engineers) she emphatically said: ‘No thanks. I want to do medicine’. Not surprisingly, she did not want to go away to a ‘Careers Day’ at the local university her school offered in ‘Women in Engineering’ – in fact, they had 5 places on offer, but only 2 applications. For the Careers Day in the Medical School, they had 10 places on offer, and 30 applicants, and these applicants had to apply in writing justifying why they were interested….

So how does a girl decide to embark on an engineering career when most role models for engineers are male? Are they aware of what it really is about? The problem-solving element? The creativity? Do family members who are engineers inspire them (certainly not in our case!)? Will good school teachers inspire them?

Let’s keep encouraging both boys and girls to do engineering, but for the right reasons; i.e., it involves problem-solving, imagination, creativity, innovation – those are the skills you need and what it is interesting about engineering. Finally, let us also remind everybody that engineering is a ‘portable’ qualification - an engineer can work in almost any country without having to go through painful re-accreditation.

Challenge 3. We need to urgently change the image of women in engineering. The image I had when I was a young student (early 90s) was a woman in a hard hat ‘dressed up as a man’ working in a muddy environment, in a ‘high-vis’ jacket – not quite what somebody would associate with a female career success. Marketing materials, trying to encourage women into engineering still show this strange image. This is not always the case, but when you are 17, you believe that this is an engineer’s life. I now know that this image of an engineer is both incorrect and – frankly – what probably discourages teenage school girls. I do not wear a hard hat, or work in a muddy field. Very few of us will ever do that. Let’s drop this image.

Challenge 4

The general public do not know the breadth and depth of engineering work; therefore, engineers need to be ready to explain what an engineer does.

I started working in the oil and gas industry, combined with education in this sector. While I was doing my degree in Education (this was a multi-disciplinary group: medics, architects, scientists, etc., and me) we had to do a presentation to our cohort on our industry. When I presented my topic in the oil and gas industry, a nurse asked after the presentation: ‘It amazes me why any woman would ever be interested in that topic at all’. OK, the oil and gas industry has a poor image due to its effect on the climate, and the profits made by the oil and gas majors, but we rely on it to provide the world with most of its energy needs. My nursing colleague’s comment was: sexist (why would a woman not have broad interests?); and, naïve (she probably drives a car, has central heating in her house, and uses airplanes to go on holidays). The world would stop without engineers in all engineering sectors.

Challenge 5

A challenge for both men and women is being educated in engineering. When I was about 15, and did my first high school exams, I had a very good result in mathematics; a teacher said: ‘you are good at maths, you should do engineering…’. Is this right? Is this what it is about? When you are 15 and have no life experience, how do you judge? Well, this ‘pressure’ is not only placed on girls: we now know that both men and women had similar reasons for enrolling in engineering: being good at maths and science in high school and wanting an interesting, well-paid professional job¹.

Challenge 6

The first ‘big’ change/challenge for a woman comes when your family arrives - up to that point there was not any real difference between being a man or woman in engineering. The development of my career was delayed due to two children appearing, as I then decided to work part-time for several years. This is a problem, and will delay your career.

I worked part-time when I had my first child, and a friend said: ‘the problem with part-time working is that you are assigned low-interest work, with little responsibility. I don’t like it, and I wouldn’t do it, because it means you are a part-time mum, and a part-time worker, and you do 50% of each job – not very well….’. Well, I don’t think you can be a part time mum… but my friend’s comments were partly true.

In my personal experience, my career did slow down while I was working part-time. Combining being a mother and a professional engineer is hard work. You are not always available for business travel, meetings outside your working hours, etc.. You always feel ‘embarrassed’ every time there is a meeting outside your normal working hours, and cannot make it. You are constantly looking at your watch in the middle of a meeting, as the children’s pick-up time, hoping it finishes on time. You rush to work in the morning, you rush in the afternoon, you finish ‘work’, and then you start ‘work’ at home, and then you finish off work you didn’t do in the office ‘after hours’. Not easy.

Challenge 7

Women need flexible working more than men when they are having their families. That is obvious, but not all companies have that flexibility. I learnt that flexible working also means that while your company is flexible, you have to be flexible: I used to finish my work when the kids were in bed. I am very pleased with the way it worked – I have been lucky with my employers who have been flexible, and allowed me to progress my career at the pace I chose.

It can be challenging even when you have a very supporting partner or a very helpful boss: in the early days, my husband did the school run in the morning, so that I could start work at 7 am, and finish by 1pm. Everybody knew Michelle had to leave at a certain time for school pick up - some my colleagues ended up looking at the clock for me, and reminding me I need to go! We all adapted.

But are other professions more flexible when it comes to looking after a young family? I do know there are some ‘mum dominated jobs now’. A good example is medicine: many general practitioners are able to tailor their hours to fit in with the home life. School teachers are also fortunate to have hours of work that match child care needs. But, in my personal experience, engineering has also been a great choice for a ‘working mum’.

Challenge 8

We all need some help in our careers, and this means help at home and help at work: in the early days my boss did many trips on my behalf as he knew I could not travel very often. Colleagues are important.

Challenge 9

A very big challenge is moving into management, where some of the 'flexibility' you have as a more junior engineer is lost. I moved into management, and experienced management issues, which means dealing with technical issues and staff issues. Both are time-consuming, but as a manager you are always ‘on call’. This is not easy: I have seen that women (particularly those with young families) being very cautious about managerial jobs, as it means longer hours in the office, more travelling and time away from their kids – many concerts and little performances missed.

Challenge 10

An even bigger challenge is moving into a more executive level, with the additional responsibility of leadership, and business pressures replace technical pressures. Additionally, you have a lot of travelling to manage. This is time-consuming and disruptive to your family life. This will be the same for both men and women, but when you care about family life you need to be aware that management and executive positions will affect this, and you will need to manage your home life just as much as your working life. Not easy….

In summary...

The 'glass ceiling' (an invisible barrier that prevents women rising up the grades to the top) still exists, and, yes, inequalities exist, but I think that the 'old' barriers stopping woman progressing are disappearing. Women are still under-represented in engineering, and any change will be slow.

I think good engineering companies, like those I have been lucky enough to have worked for, encourage and support female engineers to reach their full potential. In those companies I have worked for, we have had a very flexible working week, flexi-time schemes, supportive management, etc.. I have not seen any difference in terms of opportunities: for me, it has been a matter of choice, and I have been allowed to balance my work and family life.

I enjoy being an engineer, and I want more women to share this enjoyment.

About the Author

Michelle Unger, MEng. MSc. CertHE. FHEA.

Michelle is the Head of the Group Business Line 'Education Systems and Services' for the ROSEN Group, and is based in the UK.

She has over 20 years’ experience: her early career involved pipeline integrity consultancy, but her more recent experience is in technical training, learning, education, and competence development.

Michelle is a Visiting Lecturer at Newcastle University in the UK, and was a member of the development team of the MSc in Subsea Engineering and Management at Newcastle University. She was also the Program Director of the Distance Learning MSc in Pipeline Integrity Management at Northumbria University in the UK, which was awarded the ASME Global Pipeline Award in 2014.

Michelle is a Civil Engineer with a Masters in Pipeline Hydraulics. She has a PgC in Academic Practice from Newcastle University, and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

[1] S S Silbey, ‘Why Do So Many Women Who Study Engineering Leave the Field?’. Harvard Business Review’. August 23, 2016. https://hbr.org/2016/08/why-do-so-many-women-who-study-engineering-leave-the-field

[2] http://www.wes.org.uk/content/useful-statistics

[3] http://www.medicalwomensfederation.org.uk/about-us/facts-figures

[4] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationopinion/11692958/Women-in-engineering-female-progress-is-not-set-in-stone.html

As part of CEDA's Women in Leadership series, WISE Coordinator Allison Selman took a cohort of subsea industry leaders to 'Calling out financial bias and imbalance' , CEDA has kindly availed the recordings to the WISE Community.

The following presentations were recorded at Frasers Kings Park, on Thursday, 15 June 2017. They are reposted here with permission.

On 15 June, representatives from the subsea industry demonstrated leadership in supporting the initiative led by the Women in Subsea Engineering (WISE) professional network, to work towards achieving gender parity in the industry, by attending the CEDA Women in Leadership series lunch on the topic of Calling out Financial Bias and Imbalance within Australia.

Joining WISE Founder Allison Selman at the WISE corporate table was Frances Eaton (Executive Officer, Subsea Energy Australia), Morgan Harland (General Manager Subsea and Pipelines, Woodside), Mark Donnelly (ABU FE Pipelines Team Lead, Chevron Australia), Helena Forsyth (Principal Subsea Operations Engineer, INPEX), Dermot O’Brien (Project Delivery Manager, Atteris), Elizabeth Lindahl (Wood Group Studies Director, Wood Group), Peter Mann (Executive Consultant, Advisian and IntecSEA), John Loughridge (Executive Vice President, DOF Subsea) and Guillaume Allegret (Engineering Manager, Subsea Projects-Oceania, TechnipFMC).

Author and Media Personality Tracey Spicer kicked off the afternoon as the Keynote Speaker. Tracey spoke about her personal experience and learnings from advancing her career within the Media Industry. She spoke about how the working environment established by leaders of organisations has a direct impact on the culture for inclusiveness.

Andrew Hagger, the Chief Customer Officer of National Australia Bank spoke next about the NAB Diversity and Inclusion policy and how Diversity leads to improved business performance. He spoke about the initiatives implemented by NAB to work towards their gender diversity targets. These included flexible work practices, eliminating bias in recruitment protocols, establishing fair and equitable management processes, ensuring equitable remuneration and fostering a working environment free for discrimination, harassment, vilification or victimisation.

Mary Delahunty, General Manager for Business Development and Policy for HESTA followed to provide probably the most entertaining presentation that is possible on the topic of superannuation. Mary spoke passionately about the Australian superannuation system and how it disadvantages women by its focus on duration in the workforce. Her statistics show that many women are facing “retirement poverty” due to the current structure of the superannuation system, despite working for the majority of their professional lives. For the women who have not joined the workforce, a situation of “financial dependency” is created.

The final speaker was Professor Cobie Rudd, the Deputy Vice Chancellor of Edith Cowan University, who only recently returned from the Global STEM Gender Equality Congress in Berlin. Professor Cobie spoke about the factors contributing to the Australian gender pay gap. The biggest factors are sexual discrimination and years not working (interruptions), followed by gender imbalance at an industry or job level, age, share in part-time employment and tenure with an employer.

A panel discussion ensued, in which the speakers answered questions that were primarily focussed on actions that could be taken by individuals and organisations. Attendees were encourage to have the courage to look within their organisations and address any issues in a transparent way, that bad behaviour should never be tolerated and should be addressed and that a diverse leadership team always leads to a better, more balanced decision.

As the National focus on diversity and inclusion grows, WISE plans to support and promote women within the subsea industry, for the benefit of individuals, organisations and the industry as a whole. We are proud that key subsea industry organisations are demonstrating leadership and support in this area.

WISE will be launching the first in-depth survey on women participating in non-traditional Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) professions within the subsea industry and invite expressions of interest from all organisations to participate. Please contact WISE for more details and to register to participate.

The CEDA Women in Leadership Series  has kindly availed the presentations and panel discussion from this event to the WISE community. 

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We are so excited to start our WISE mentoring program next month. The program intends to provide professional members and students with a significant industry leadership edge and aims to harness the wisdom contained in our Membership to provide support for emerging and existing leaders; and importantly it provides a platform for a successful future for our Industry.

​So, what is mentoring? ....

Mentoring is intended to be a one-to-one relationship by means of which the mentor invests their time, knowledge and efforts to help the Mentee reach all their potential as a person and as a professional in their behaviours, knowledge and skills. Mentoring is a very old formula of human development whose origins lie in the Stone Age, when the artists who painted on cave-walls, the stone carvers, the medicasters who used medicinal herbs to heal sickness and others instructed the youths of their clan, in order to transmit their knowledge, thereby contributing to the evolution of civilization.

Mentoring owes its name to Greek Mythology. Mentor was Ulysses’ close friend, the protagonist of Homer’s Odyessy. Before setting off to Troy, Ulysses bade Mentor to take care of his son Telemachus and to prepare him to succeed him as the king of Ithaca. Mentor had to be like a father, a master, a model and reliable counsellor and challenge-stimulating instructor, so that Telemachus could become a wise, truthful and prudent king.

Mentoring is becoming very common in Australia. It has gone through a process of transformation as a consequence of the changes that the business world has undergone from the industrial age to the age of knowledge.

In the industrial age, the mentoring model was orientated towards the achievement of higher position in the hierarchical scale; in the age of knowledge, this orientation is turning towards the development of the individual's inner power, which originates in mental ability, persuasion, vision, creativity, capacity to solve problems, passion for the results of business activity, capacity to create teams, which turns high potential professionals into managers who contribute effectively to the growth of the business. The majority of companies in every economic sector have got flatter and leaner structures. Organisations are demanding continuously growing profits, higher quality products and services, capacity to compete in a more open and globalised market, capacity for creation and innovation in a technology changing environment, etc. Therefore, leaders and managers must perform more broad and versatile roles like the creation of new vision, the development of strategies, the direct involvement in operational issues, team building and leadership etc.... We believe this Mentor Program is an enabler in that process.

Mentoring that builds Leadership

Great leadership requires great influence. Great leaders are not born with a genetic code that dictates great leadership, nor are they self-made into great leaders. A study of any honourable effective leader will show that along the way of their development, they received many influences from relationships and events that they experienced. Emerging leaders use great influence to help them become great leaders.

The current leaders within our membership are considered as a source of great influence. Mentoring is a vehicle that taps into this great influence to build and support the current and future generation of leaders in our industry. Mentoring that builds leadership however, must be based upon an understanding of how leadership development takes place.

Studies of great leaders have shown 3 common experiences from which these great leaders learned how to lead:

1. Trial & Error
2. Observation of Others
3. Education

These 3 leadership learning experiences suggest 3 services that mentors can provide for the development of emerging leaders!

I am looking forward to sharing more with you about our upcoming mentoring program, watch this space!

​Frances Eaton
Executive Officer
Subsea Energy Australia

1. They Focus On Service

Mentors focus on the statement “How Can I Help?” They have a genuine passion for helping others largely because they want to give back to the community and also helping others makes them feel great.

When people focus their attention on someone else’s wellbeing, it actually reduces their own stress levels. Giving back can also make people feel like they have a deeper purpose in life making them feel happier. Everyone wins with mentorship.

2. They Believe In Abundance

A mentor once told me: “Never believe in lack. There’s enough abundance in business for everyone”. Smart mentors understand that sharing knowledge and contacts doesn’t take anything away from them. In fact, realistically, the more they share, the more likely they are to receive.

For example, think of the last time a person you met helped you in business. Wouldn’t you be more likely to help this person in return compared to someone who didn’t help you?

3. They See Your Strengths

An inspiring mentor focuses on your strengths, not your weaknesses. If you focus on your strengths, you are more likely to feel happy because you feel competent you can carry out tasks.

For example if your strengths lie in writing but not in accounting, your mentor may suggest that you continue writing in your business blog, but leave the accounting to an expert. Focusing on your strengths is likely to boost your confidence helping your business.

4. They Feel Complete

Life changing mentors see themselves as complete and don’t expect anything from you in return for their help. (Although they will graciously receive your help if you offer.) Why is this great? Well, as you may have experienced in life or business, giving with expectation feels pretty awful for both people involved.

Conversely, those that give without expectation tend to serendipitously meet the right people at the right time and have a huge amount of luck because of their positive and helpful attitudes – a pretty cool side effect from a not-so-common state of being.

5. They Are Charismatic

Have you ever noticed inspiring mentors are usually interesting and engaging people? It’s likely they have many intriguing life stories involving challenges and struggles they’ve overcome to make them the people they are today.

Don’t believe me? The next time you are in a meeting with a coach or mentor, gently ask them about their history. It’s likely they’ll have a lot of interesting stories to share that you would never have imagined…

Be the mentor you want to see in the world!

So there you have it! Those are the five common traits of life-changing mentors. If you looked at some of these traits and thought, wow that’s me, or if you’ve been searching for ways to give back to our Industry than watch this space!

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