Women in Engineering Day: Building a Sustainable Future

Women across the engineering industry are using International Women in Engineering Day (INWED) today, 23 June 2025, to draw attention to the urgent need for change in how the sector retains female talent.

While the day is a celebration of women’s achievements in engineering, it also highlights critical gaps in gender balance and the sustainability of careers in the sector.

Retention, not just recruitment

This year’s theme, #TogetherWeEngineer, reflects a collective push to shift the culture of engineering workplaces globally.

Organised by the Women’s Engineering Society (WES), INWED began in 2014 and enters its 12th year with a growing sense of urgency.

The goal remains consistent: increasing visibility for women engineers and supporting younger generations to see themselves in the profession.

In the UK, women account for just 16.5% of engineers.

Globally, sectors like data centres are even less diverse, a 2023 Uptime Institute study finds that only 8% of data centre teams include women, a figure largely unchanged over the past five years.

Aurore Knight, Associate Director at Black & White Engineering, says focusing solely on recruitment risks missing the deeper issues.

“Conversations about women in engineering tend to focus on recruitment. But the bigger issue isn’t getting women into the sector - it’s keeping them,” she says.

The real challenge, according to Aurore, is whether roles are sustainable through life’s inevitable changes.

“That usually comes down to whether the job allows people to stay in the profession during periods of change, particularly around family.

"This isn’t a theoretical concern, it’s something many women face, and it has a real impact on retention, particularly mid-career.”

Flexible work models, hybrid opportunities and support during caregiving stages are repeatedly raised by female engineers as essential to staying in the sector.

Without changes to workplace structure, the engineering pipeline continues to leak talent, even as companies promote diversity on paper.

Jenny Hadlow, Chief Operating Officer at Checkout.com, agrees that retention begins early.

“In engineering, the talent pipeline issue is real, but so is the opportunity,” she says.

“We need to ensure young women not only enter the field but stay, grow and lead in it.

"That means giving them meaningful roles early in their careers, pairing them with mentors who challenge and support them and creating environments where they feel like they belong.”

Rebuilding with inclusion in mind

Engineering’s environmental goals and digital transformation targets rely on a workforce that can problem-solve creatively and sustainably.

Tanya Channing, Chief People and Culture Officer at Pipedrive, notes the connection between inclusion and innovation.

“Inclusion is a growth driver and a prerequisite for great innovation,” Tanya says.

“If we encourage girls and women who love solving puzzles, creating or improving things to join an engineering field we can engineer a better future together using diverse voices and more equitable outcomes.”

There’s a particular emphasis on inclusive cultures that support women across their whole careers.

That includes leadership pathways, access to mentorship and promoting non-linear career journeys as valid.

“Progress won’t come from one big initiative,” adds Jenny.

“It’s about making small, intentional choices every single day, like ensuring interview panels are balanced, understanding the difference between merit and potential, and inviting internal voices to contribute to discussions that impact them.”

Aligning with sustainability and digital change

Aurore believes engineering roles, especially in data centres and building services, are already being reshaped by new environmental requirements.

With increasing scrutiny on sustainability and energy use, the profession is evolving rapidly.

“In building services, particularly data centres, the landscape is constantly shifting. The technical side is challenging, but the pace is what sets it apart,” she says. “There’s also a heightened focus on sustainability and energy efficiency, which is changing the way we approach everything from cooling systems to materials.”

She adds that how engineers work should reflect these broader transformations.

“What I’d like to see over the next five to ten years is a shift in how the profession defines success. Full-time, uninterrupted careers aren’t the only valid model. Hybrid and flexible working should be part of the standard offer, not just for women, but for anyone with responsibilities or commitments outside the office.”

These adjustments are no longer seen as perks but as baseline expectations for incoming engineers. Flexibility helps retain workers, improves wellbeing and enhances productivity – all critical to delivering sustainable outcomes in the built environment.

“If you want to retain skilled engineers, you have to recognise that life doesn’t always fit neatly around a 9-to-5,” Aurore says. “When you make that adjustment, you actually gain productivity.”

Tanya also connects sustainability to emerging AI roles that benefit from a wider talent pool.

“The rapid evolution of AI transforms how we build, test, and optimise, creating new opportunities for us to shape the future,” she explains.

“It’s levelling barriers by valuing skills like data literacy, ethical reasoning and interdisciplinary collaboration. These are areas where diverse perspectives are essential.”

For women in engineering, this opens up faster progression in roles like machine learning operations, prompt engineering and ethical AI governance.

The chance to define the future is there, but only if the profession creates the conditions to retain talent and foster equity across every layer.

As Aurore puts it: “If you’re someone who likes solving problems and figuring out how things operate, it’s a good fit.

"The skills you develop, particularly around analysis and structured problem solving, are useful across a lot of sectors, even if you don’t stay in a traditional engineering role forever. It’s a solid foundation that opens doors in all kinds of industries.”

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