Who: Amey and Girlguiding

Objective: Following International Women in Engineering Day on June 23, infrastructure support service Amey announced a partnership with Girlguiding. Existing to nurture young girls in becoming confident women, the strategic partnership focuses on ensuring more girls choose careers focused on science, maths, technology and engineering (STEM). And with Girlguiding launching a new ‘Innovate’ skills builder badge and activities as part of its wider overhaul, the partnership with Amey includes expert input into the contents of the badges. Emily, an Olney senior section member, says, “In Girlguiding you’re allowed to be yourself and that really helps girls to be able to get into STEM. It’s really exciting that the new Innovate skills builder will teach girls from a young age that STEM is there and it’s achievable.”

Strategy: Currently, just 11% of Amey employees with ‘engineer’ in their job title are women. The company also experiences a similar gender split across its graduate and apprenticeship programmes, something it is keen to address through the three-year partnership. With six stages spanning all guiding sections – Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Rangers – the programme reaches girls from the age of five to the age of 18. As each of the six stages is completed, participants are awarded a badge; this early and continuous exposure to STEM subjects aims to address the persistent gender imbalance.  Nicola Hindle, consulting and rail managing director at Amey, says, “The charity is synonymous with teaching girls new skills in a safe and fun environment and [Amey has] high aspirations that our work with Girlguiding will result in a new generation of women leading the UK forward, innovating in STEM.”

Rationale: Research shows that, currently, just 3% of girls aged 7-10 would consider a career in engineering. For Amey, the partnership with Girlguiding is about addressing the UK’s deep-rooted gender imbalance of those in the engineering profession, which according to the Women’s Engineering Society is currently the lowest in Europe. Emily Davies, head of social impact at Amey, says, “Partnering with Girlguiding enables Amey to be engaged with girls of all ages, and co-sponsoring the innovate skills badge supports our aim to change and influence perceptions surrounding engineering careers. We hope we can inspire more girls into a career using STEM subjects through this partnership, addressing our wider goal of challenging the industry’s gender imbalance.”