Two years ago the Royal Academy of Engineering appointed Professor Wendy Hall as senior vice-president. The reason this was news is because she was the first woman to hold the role.

This sort of announcement remains newsworthy today as women being appointed to senior roles in engineering is still a rarity in an industry that continues to be dominated by men and one which highly skilled women are still reluctant to enter.

“Women have the skills needed to be successful engineers and with the current skills shortages within the engineering profession, and with the urgency of issues such as climate change and energy supply, their skills and input into these areas are needed more than ever before,” says Robin McGill, chief executive and secretary of the IET (Institution of Engineering and Technology).

McGill and his colleagues at the IET are concerned that out of 243,000 registered engineers only 7,608 are women. “This represents a mere three per cent,” states McGill.

The IET has found there is a demand in the UK for more inspirational role models among both men and women.

The Institution recently commissioned a survey to look at the career aspirations of young people. It found there is a call for greater opportunities for women to achieve their goals in more traditional ‘male’ career paths.

Two-thirds of those surveyed stated they would like more women to become skilled tradespeople, such as plumber or electrician, or go into professions such as engineering (47 per cent), medicine (42 per cent), architecture or surveying (both 39 per cent).

“Our report demonstrates women have a real mix of career aspirations, with more wanting to be represented in areas such as engineering and skilled trades, and our role is to encourage this,” explains Michelle Richmond, director of qualifications at the IET.

Earlier this year the head of ISLI, a Scottish microelectronics technology and training organisation ,highlighted the electronics industry’s problem with encouraging sufficient students, both male and female, to enter engineering.

“It is our collective responsibility to inspire young students to enter the profession, throughout their schooling through to undergraduate, postgraduate training and beyond,” says Tony Harker, CEO of ISLI.

“Together with our partners in industry, academia and government, we need to maintain a strong and healthy business sector to enthuse and inspire entrepreneurial spirit within students and support this with a well founded science and engineering base,” adds Harker.

There is a view that the reluctance of women to even consider careers in engineering is compounding the more general problem. The IET aims to tackle what it sees as “the severe shortage of women in engineering” with this year’s Young Woman Engineer of the Year Award.

“We’re celebrating the work of female engineers in particular, highlighting a career that can provide excellent opportunities for young women and help them realise the ambitions and aspirations that our research shows they clearly hold,” says Redmond.

Judges of the award look for a woman under the age of 30, already holding a responsible position as a leading professional engineer, who has the flair, charisma and experience to present engineering as an exciting career and entice others to follow in her footsteps.

The IET are urging companies to nominate their young female engineers or for engineers themselves to come forward and embrace the career advancement and networking opportunities that winning the award provides. The winner receives £1,000 and a trophy.

The runner-up will receive the Women’s Engineering Society (WES) prize of £500. A candidate who shows great promise and potential in the profession and is tipped as one of tomorrow’s leaders in engineering will receive the Mary George Memorial Prize.

The closing date for all entries is 27 July 2007.