On National Women in Engineering Day 2016 (today), the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) is calling for more female engineers to capitalise on their knowledge and expertise by having their work published through its world-renowned publications and information services.

The IET publishes a range of widely respected publications and information services for engineers and technicians and is making the appeal due to the worryingly low number of female engineers contributing to its publications. Only 1% of the 800 editorial board members serving across the IET’s journal portfolio are female.

The annual IET Skills and Demand in Industry survey shows that women have represented less than 10% of the engineering workforce in the UK for over a decade, so ensuring the work of outstanding female engineers is better represented in the world of engineering publishing has never been so important.

IET President, Naomi Climer, said: “Women are woefully underrepresented in engineering. In a profession with a serious skills shortage, this represents a problem for the economy as well as for diversity. It is therefore important that leading engineering publishers like the IET ensure gender diversity in their approach to publishing. That’s why we are appealing to female engineers to share their expertise and experiences with their peers, not only as a way of boosting their own career progression but also to inspire the next generation of female engineers.”

Esther Dudek, who is a senior consultant at EA Technology Ltd, recently spoke about energy storage at an IET event and has contributed to the IET’s E&T Reference, which includes a collection of multidisciplinary, technical articles and case studies.

She said: “It’s important to have visible diversity within engineering to show the wide range of areas that women are working in. Too often the important roles that women have in the profession aren’t reflected at events or in technical journals. It’s also important to have visible female role models for more outward facing things, such as on TV, as it influences the next generation and their career choices.

To find out more about the IET’s publishing resources, visit the authors’ section of the IET’s Resources webpage. In addition, the IET has an authors’ community on its Engineering Communities website.