On Monday 23rd June, both CIHT East Midlands and CIHT West Midlands both held independent events celebrating International Women in Engineering Day. At lunchtime, CIHT West Midlands held an online panel discussion event with a diverse panel of accomplished women engineers. In the evening, CIHT East Midlands met at the Nottingham Trent University to discuss male allyship and how we go from banter to better. This year's INWED theme is ‘Together we engineer’ – presenting the opportunity to promote the work that women engineers across the globe are doing, uncover personal stories, systemic challenges and visions for the future.

The West Midlands panel consisted of finalists from the CIHT West Midlands Women's Network Women's Achievement Award which was awarded to Beckie Faulkner, Associate Director at WSP. The open and honest discussion, chaired by CIHT West Midlands' Paul Unwin was a powerful reminder of what ongoing engagement looks like. There was much powerful personal experience shared and key takeaways included the importance of the building of a supportive network around you and of speaking up and believing in yourself. Grace Woosey, third year degree apprentice at Warwick University and AtkinsRealis working on Sizewell C shared how as a high achiever in school she was advised against doing a degree apprenticeship and how three years later they're invited her back to come and speak about her experience.

Topics of the discussion at the East Midlands INWED event covered the role of male allies, challenges faced by women in engineering, success stories, strategies for inclusivity and future directions for the profession. Questions addressed included “What are the subtle biases and forms of exclusion that often go unnoticed in engineering workplaces?” with answers ranging from the use of the term "he" in standards, to inadequate PPE and welfare facilities provision, to the shaping the perception of gender roles through parental responsibility bias.

Effective allyship involves actively and consistently supporting women, using influence and privilege to help remove barriers, not making assumptions about their capabilities. It means advocating for inclusion and fairness, not reinforcing outdated stereotypes and systemic inequality. The panel recommended that raising awareness of allyship requires ongoing education, training and introspection, embedding allyship into systems and policies, and the growing focus in academia on forming diverse student groups that include individuals from different experiences and identities could be used as best practice across the industry for fostering inclusive collaboration.

But that's not all, CIHT Cymru Wales are holding an INWED webinar on Wednesday 30th July and North East & Cumbria are hosting a panel discussion on Wednesday 10th September!

Click here to book to attend a history of women in engineering webinar

Click here to celebrate women in engineering in Newcastle

To find out more or get involved with regional CIHT events and activities, please contact regions@ciht.org.uk. 

CIHT would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to all of the women and men who participated in the discussions and event to ensure that Highways and Transportation continues to grow into a more inclusive, equitable and diverse industry! Our panelists included:

Beckie Faulkner
Associate Director at WSP

Diana Sanchez
Pavement Engineer at AtkinsRealis

Grace Woosey
Degree Apprentice at Warwick University & AtkinsRealis

Shirley Reynolds
Regional Director at Waterman Aspen

Jessica Tuck
National Technical Director at Tarmac

Javaid Amin
CEO & MD at Visionary Consulting and Professional Advisors Ltd

James Goodwin
Contract Manager VMS at Colas Ltd

Teresa Hylton
Regional Director at Waterman Aspen

Dr. Guilhermina Torrao
Lecturer in Transport at Aston University

Syed Mohyuddin
Head of Civil Engineering Department at Nottingham Trent University