Celebrating its 11th year this Sunday 23 June is International Women in Engineering Day.

This year’s theme is enhanced by engineering. It recognises the incredible contribution women engineers are making to the profession and encourages more women and young girls to pursue a career in engineering.

The Cairns branch of Engineers Australia celebrated International Women in Engineering Day with a wonderful networking breakfast held at the Cairns Cruising Yacht Squadron.

Christina helped organise the event which included a panel with Sonia Holzheimer, Mathew Tickner and Ryan Petersen. They discussed issues facing the industry in regard to attracting more women and people in general into the industry of Engineering. An interest in engineering starts when children are young, not at high school or university, so it is up to us as adults to take this interest and nurture and direct it.

The panel spoke about girls often having less confidence compared to boys which makes them feel that they need to work harder for the same opportunities. The topic of internationally qualified engineers unable to work in Australia was also brought up as well as the lack of field experience and technical knowledge in the authorities making decisions regarding construction and development.