Climate for change

Climate change – provoking a climate for change for women in Science, Engineering and Technology (SET)

Whether women are really more environmentally conscious than men remains open to question. Nevertheless, research has shown that “Nation states with a higher proportion of women in Parliament are more prone to ratify environmental treaties than other nations” (Norgaard and York, 2005)

What is sure is that never has there been a more appropriate climate in which to promote the cause of women in science, engineering, technology (SET) and the built environment. Never has there been a more appropriate time for employers to recognise the need to include effectively the enormous skills base which women in SET could provide.

“Nation states with a higher proportion of women in Parliament are more prone to ratify environm-ental treaties than other nations.”

It is in this climate for change that UK Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology (UKRC) set its 2007 annual conference (15 March, British Museum) with the theme ‘Climate for Change – Women in Science, Engineering and Technology having an Environmental Impact’.

The report, in early February, from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), surely closed the debate on whether our planet’s climate is changing, whether we, the human race, are responsible, and whether we need to do something about it as a matter of urgency. It moved the debate on to what needs to be done, how quickly, and how it can be achieved. The IPCC report confirmed unequivocally the findings in Sir Nicholas Stern’s earlier report for the UK Government – The Stern Review (2006).

Our climate is changing, but the good news for women is that this has provoked a climate for change which will surely accelerate moves away from traditional working practices and the cultures which have sustained them. Research, including studies instigated by the UKRC, has shown that these working practices and cultures have been substantially responsible for the fact that in the UK there are around 50,000 SET qualified women who are not working in their specialist fields.

What a waste!
Now is the time for many more employers to recognise the need to include effectively the enormous skills base which women in SET could provide. The business case is compelling, as the winner of the UKRC 2006 Working Families Women in SET Award, National Grid, and short-listed companies Frank Haslam Milan and Fulcrum Consulting, have proven. Each of these companies cited substantial cost savings, more effective recruiting, and better service to customers as a result of changing to more inclusive policies and working practices.

However, it is not just a matter of persuading existing SET-qualified women to return. Tackling the problem of climate change, indeed tackling the problem of Britain’s future competitiveness in a global economy, will require not only the application of the whole of the skills base available now in science, engineering and technology, but ensuring it continues to grow by inspiring future generations to believe that emerging careers in climate science and energy can be fulfilling.

Women are already among the leaders in climate science and in the energy field, providing shining examples for young women embarking on SET careers to follow.

In the climate sciences field we can point to Professor Julia Slingo, Founder Director  of the Walker Institute for Climate System Research at Reading University, and Professor Jane Francis, Professor of Palaeoclimatology at the University of Leeds. Both of these research centres made crucial contributions to the IPCC report.

In the energy industry we can cite Lynda Armstrong, Vice President Technical of Shell International Exploration and Production, and Dr Nina Skorupska, Director of Technology Services, RWE npower.

All the above are speakers at the UKRC annual conference and further examples can be found in the UKRC Women of Outstanding Achievement Photographic Exhibition. Inaugurated a year ago, another six women with inspiring careers and achievements are incorporated in the exhibition this year (launched at the Science Museum on 8 March). Among them are women who have astounding careers yet also have a successful family life.

Despite these examples, it remains a fact that women are still in a minority overall in SET and in an even smaller minority in influential leadership positions. There never has been a more appropriate time for SET women to be involved in the decision-making which will determine the future environment of our planet, its suitability for our children and for our children’s children. So, it is not just a matter of attracting them back so that a massive potential SET labour force is utilised, it is also about ensuring that women are part of the decision-making process at every level.

As Annette Williams, director of the UKRC, commented recently, “The world has a history of making the achievements of women near invisible. This is particularly true in the SET fields where, because women are in such a minority, their achievements have largely been ignored or claimed by others. It never has been more vital than now that the significant contributions women scientists and engineers have made and could make in the future are not only rendered visible, but put firmly in the spotlight”.

For further information about the UKRC programmes for employers and individual SET women, visit: www.setwomenresource.org.uk

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