Only One Percent Of Parents Want Their Daughters To Be Engineers: According to new research, just one percent of parents who have daughters said that they see them growing up to work in engineering. The research, which looked in to the views of 770 parents with children aged 11-16 years of age, found that more than a tenth (11%) of parents would select a career working in engineering for their son; compared to the one percent who would pick it for their daughter.

Only One Percent Of Parents Want Their Daughters To Be Engineers

The research was commissioned by the Institution of Engineering and Technology, and found that few parents think positively about their children having jobs in STEM subjects – science, technology, maths and engineering. When asked about the best career for their children, fewer than a fifth (18%) felt that STEM topics would be a good fit for their sons, and this drops to fewer than one in ten (9%) for parents of girls.

According to research quoted by James Dyson, writing in The Telegraph, fewer than ten percent (8.5%) of engineers in the UK are women. Perhaps more worryingly, three fifths (62%) of girls aged 11-21 years old felt that STEM subjects were just for boys.

Thea Patoff, from JS Burgess Engineering Ltd, a stillage manufacturing company based in the North West of England had the following to say on the topic of encouraging people in to STEM industries:

“As the UK’s largest independent stillage manufacturer, we at JS Burgess feel it is vitally important to support young engineers and encourage them to join one of the most important industries in the wider UK economy. Engineering, and the wider STEM sector, is an interesting and rewarding industry in which to work for both men and women.”

Still, whilst there are gender differences outlined by the research commissioned by the Institute of Engineering and Technology, it is also clear that awareness at an overall level must be promoted among the engineers of tomorrow. Research released recently by Nestle UK & Ireland suggested that whilst almost four fifths of 14-16 year olds would consider a job in the STEM sector; more than half of them said that they knew little about the types of job on offer.