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Female engineer heads up Engineering Council

13/04/2011 Female engineer heads up Engineering CouncilA female engineer has become the first woman to be appointed as president of the Engineering Professors' Council (EPC) in its 50-year history.

Professor Helen Atkinson is currently the head of the Mechanics of Materials Group in the Department of Engineering at the University of Leicester and will take up her new role this week.

Proving to women in the UK that there is room at the top for the fairer sex, Professor Atkinson's achievements were recognised last year by the UK Resource Centre's Women of Outstanding Achievement for her leadership and success in science, engineering and technology.

In 2007, Professor Atkinson was elected as a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, one of just 29 women among more than 1,400 men.

"I feel incredibly honoured and privileged to be elected to serve for two years as president of the EPC at a critical time for engineering in higher education in the UK," she said.

Women follow in the footsteps

Professor Atkinson is also keen to encourage more women to enter the typically male-dominated industry of engineering.

"Engineering is a wonderful career for women to go into, with good earning power and potential for career progression," she enthused. "Engineering is behind everything our life depends on – hospital equipment, mobile phones, laptop computers and the systems that run buildings and save energy.

"We can't function as a society without engineering and a lot of women don't realise how intensely creative it is and how much it's a people-orientated career."

Further championing women to enter science-based careers is Marissa Mayer, vice president of consumer products at Google and the first female engineer hired at the IT giant.

Speaking at the Wall Street Journal Women In The Economy conference, she lamented the fact that not enough women are entering the field of technology.

"Now with the pervasiveness of the internet, video games and technology all around us, I hope a lot more young women get interested in 'how do you build that?'" she said, Total Telecom reported.

"It's important to send the message that you don't have to give up your femininity to enter a space like technology," she added. Ms Mayer was appointed to Google in 1999, one of less than 20 employees at the time.

Fewer women applying for IT jobs

However, research by IntaPeople recently found that there are fewer women applying for IT jobs than there were 12 months ago.

It revealed that there has been a 1.7 per cent drop in the number of female applicants to just 16.5 per cent.

But following the example of Professor Atkinson, women can still have a successful career in technology and juggle family life.

Work/Life balance

Mother to three children, Professor Atkinson highlighted the importance of working with employers to make sure talented mothers do not "leak from the pipeline".

"Sometimes it needs a little lateral thinking and both sides need to be reasonable, but the employer can hold on to someone who is immensely valuable to the company. Also, part-time employees often give incredibly good service because they're so focussed on giving a good deal. There's benefit on both sides."


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