Readers letters
I would like to congratulate Philippa Oldham for what I believe is her correct analysis of the problem of gender imbalance in engineering (‘Female Persuasion’ PE February 2013). The lack of part time working opportunities is indeed impacting the number of women in engineering, as well as the number in industry as a whole.
I work for a major British company which employs a high percentage of engineers, as well as others in highly technical disciplines. Upon taking up an engineering management position a few years ago, I inherited a team which included a part time female engineer. In talking to her, I began to realise how the company was operating systems that created an unconscious bias against part time workers. The major issue was that the organisational capability of the organisation was not being assessed on a full time equivalent basis, meaning that the “unused” percentage of a part time worker’s position was effectively going to waste. This not unnaturally discouraged managers from bringing part time workers into their teams. This has now been fixed but other problems remain.
The fact is that the majority of part time workers are currently women, so not unnaturally many of them feel discouraged and don’t wish to continue swimming against the tide. This is a huge opportunity going to waste, for these women are highly qualified and valuable to the company. If the part time working and job share problem could be fixed, then other advantages would also result. Older, very experienced staff (men and women) could be encouraged to stay on a part time basis rather than retire, helping to solve severe skills shortages in some areas. Recruitment could be easier for some hard to fill positions. For men with working spouses, easier part time working for them would benefit family life and generally promote a more satisfactory work/life balance.
There is a perception that part time working and particularly job share is only suitable for a non-professional roles and administrative roles. Work done by organisations such as Capability Jane and others have demonstrated that this is far from the case: The effectiveness of organisations can be enhanced considerably by part time working and job share by professionals, including engineers. The fear of the unknown, it seems, is the main barrier to a higher uptake of part time roles in the work place.
How did we got ourselves into this position and how we might get ourselves out of it? It is sad but true that the majority of senior management in my industry are men, with only the token female here and there at Vice President level and above. But having said this, I do believe that the days of diversity and inclusion are well and truly upon us, with women in principle being given every encouragement to develop and traditional male chauvinism banished to dark corners or gone completely. The issue is that the male dominated senior management, through a combination of a lack of empathy for women’s issues and a culture of long hours and overwork, simply do not recognise or understand the part time working issue and how it is impacting the gender balance. If the benefits of part time working can be sold to these people, and they take action, then the engineering workplace, indeed all workplaces, will include many more contented female (as well as male) employees.
Leofric Studd, Aberdeen
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