Australia’s engineering profession risks not realising its full potential unless there is a renewed focus on retaining qualified and experienced female engineers, according to a new report released to mark International Women in Engineering Day.
Engineers Australia and WSP co-released the report today, examining gender diversity within the profession, the unique challenges facing women at mid-career, and the steps that can be taken to improve retention.
The report finds that Australia has more than 69,000 total qualified female engineers, yet just over 34,000 women are working directly in engineering roles.
If women were employed in direct engineering roles at the same rate as men, the report estimates an additional 13,000 women would be working in the field today.
The research also highlights a stark divide in working patterns between mid-career men and women.
Some 20 per cent of mid-career women work part-time, compared with just 8 per cent of men, a gap that points to the pressures many women face at a pivotal stage of their professional lives.
According to the report, female representation drops sharply through the middle years of an engineering career, declining by around one percentage point annually, at the exact point the industry can least afford to lose experienced talent.
Other key findings paint a detailed picture of the profession’s gender landscape.
There is a clear mid-career slump: from a peak of 64 per cent for Australian-born female engineers (and 53 per cent for those born overseas) in their mid-30s, utilisation declines by about 1 per cent per annum.
In terms of workforce composition, 75 per cent of Australia’s female engineers were born overseas.
The report also points to sustained growth in some areas, with the number of female engineers doubling in many industry sectors in the decade to 2021.
This includes Professional Scientific and Technical Services, which employs more than a third of female engineers.
However, a representation imbalance remains evident across sectors.
The gender share of engineers in Professional Scientific and Technical Services sits at 15.7 per cent, compared with 19 per cent in the education sector and just 10 per cent in construction.
The pay gap also persists.
Based on Workplace Gender Equality Agency data, the gender pay gap in Professional Scientific and Technical Services is 5 per cent higher than the all-sector average of 11.2 per cent.
Engineers Australia CEO Romilly Madew AO said the report and consultation process mark the start of a renewed push to improve gender diversity in engineering across the full scope of a career path.
“Progress has been made in recent years to improve the gender share across key sectors,” said Madew
“This is resulting in greater diversity across engineering and means efforts to encourage more girls to pursue STEM and engineering degrees are working.
“But many longstanding barriers persist which undermines these efforts.”
She highlighted that one of the challenges the research identified was that engineers can undergo a significant change when they move away from field-based work, a shift many women make after returning from parental leave.
This raises important questions about how employers can help mid-career engineers manage that turning point and transition with confidence and clear intention.
President and Managing Director of WSP Greg Kane said the report was an opportunity to drive important discussions about supporting female engineers during a crucial time in their careers.
“While the profession has made meaningful progress in increasing the number of women entering engineering, this report highlights a persistent challenge: too many women are not progressing through the middle stages of their careers at the same rate as their male peers,” said Kane.
“Addressing this issue is not only a matter of equity.
“It is also a matter of economic and industry performance.
“Better utilisation of the existing workforce represents a clear opportunity to strengthen productivity, improve project outcomes, and unlock greater value from investment across infrastructure, energy, water and resources.”
The findings suggest that closing the mid-career gap is not simply a matter of fairness, but a practical economic opportunity for an industry facing ongoing skills shortages.
With thousands of qualified female engineers currently working outside the field, the report argues that better retention strategies could meaningfully expand the available talent pool without the need to train an entirely new workforce.
Engineers Australia and WSP have indicated that further consultation will follow the report’s release, with both organisations aiming to translate the findings into practical guidance for employers navigating workforce planning, parental leave transitions, and career progression frameworks for engineers at the mid-career stage.
The full report, Australia’s Untapped Workforce, is available on the Engineers Australia website.