Gatwick aims to inspire women and change perceptions of engineering

Gatwick Airport has hosted an exclusive event to inspire and encourage women to work in the industry.

The airport invited 77 pupils from Millais all-girls school in nearby Horsham, and their mothers, to have an exclusive insight into engineering at the airport.

The airport hopes to overcome the perception of STEM subjects – Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths – as being predominantly for males, and encourage women and girls to not hesitate to take up these subjects if they wish to pursue a career in engineering.

The pupils, and their mothers, were given a tour of the airfield, fire station, and learned, in real time, how aircraft are parked through a laser guided system. They were also given a practical display by Gatwick’s fire service.

The visitors heard from Liberty Frankland, a female engineering apprentice at Gatwick, who offered her personal experience and spoke about the integral part taking up STEM subjects played in her following her chosen career path.

“It is so important that women of all ages don’t view the engineering industry as a male-dominated environment,” commented Tony Yates, Head of Engineering at Gatwick Airport. “We believe that promoting the opportunities that STEM careers can lead to at the airport is a good step forward in giving the industry a better gender profile, which could also help improve productivity.”

The event formed part of Gatwick’s Community Engagement programme, which supports projects that have a lasting, positive impact on large numbers of local people across the region.

Gatwick also recently announced that it is partnering with 20 local schools to get kids thinking about engineering.