VIEWS & OPINION


The changing landscape for women in


engineering Comment by DR KEVIN P STENSON, chief executive at The Smallpeice Trust


It was the First World War that saw a dramatic change in the professional and social status of women. As men went off to war, women proved that they were more than capable in carrying out the necessary engineering tasks. At the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich, London alone, over 30,000 women were recruited to handle explosives, work on the cranes and assemble weapons. It was at this same time that women were working on an equal


level to men, that they finally won the right to vote. For the past hundred years women have fought so hard to be an


equal to men and yet research* shows that the UK has the lowest percentage of female engineering professionals in Europe; 12.37 per cent, compared with countries such as Latvia, Bulgaria, and Cyprus who have nearly 30 per cent. In an era when women are increasingly prominent in medicine, law, and business, why are there so few women scientists and engineers? Over 50 years ago, brilliant British engineer Dr Cosby Smallpeice


ploughed £1.6m of his personal fortune into setting up The Smallpeice Trust, to give young people, especially girls, these role models and experiences to fuel their passion for engineering. The most important thing to recognise is that the problem isn’t


based on a lack of opportunities for women in engineering; it is simply a case of female students not considering this as a potential career. When it rains and you switch on your windscreen wiper, you are


unlikely to know that it was engineer Mary Anderson that you have to thank. If you are reading this article online you may be accessing the Internet through Wi-Fi, thanks to Hedy Lamarr. It was her invention of frequency-hopping technology in 1941 that became a precursor to secure Wi-Fi. Despite this, girls today are more likely to associate science and


engineering with people such as Brunel (Isambard Kingdom Brunel) the British civil engineer who is considered one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history, or more recently Elon Musk founder of SpaceX and the Tesla; all being men. With two million more engineers needed by 2025, we need to


ensure girls in school get to meet female role models and experience the real world of today’s engineering. Students are invited to attend our hands-on residential courses


based on everything from Artificial Intelligence to Automotive Engineering. The courses are heavily subsidised by The Trust from our endowment. Last year 40,000 students experienced the courses that we run with our partner companies including Babcock International Group, BAE Systems, Jaguar Land Rover, National Cyber Security Centre, National Grid, National Nuclear Laboratory, RAF, Leonardo, Siemens, Shell and Tomorrow’s Engineers. Please visit our website (https://www.smallpeicetrust.org.uk) to find out more about each course. In terms of our progress, since I joined The Smallpeice Trust in


2013, we have doubled the number of young people on our residential courses and increased the number of girls from 32 to 50 per cent. We want to show girls that they can do whatever they want. They


have infinite career opportunities, and I believe the experiences we offer will help them broaden their plans for their future.


Can pay or won’t pay?


Comment by KATIE FARMER, Legal Director at Ashfords LLP


Many organisations adopt a robust approach to their credit control processes and the pursuit of non-paying clients by pro-actively following up invoices, instructing lawyers to initiate recovery proceedings to seek County Court Judgments, and then enforcing these CCJs. Some schools will deliberately cultivate a reputation for being tough on non-paying debtors in order to protect their cash flow. As the current coronavirus crisis impacts all types of organisations and businesses, threatening their income, getting in the cash is more important than ever before. However, the key objective to collect cash is significantly impacted by


the potential for a much larger range of debtors being simply unable to pay. Businesses in all sectors may find their own supply chains disrupted or cash strapped. Parents may have been furloughed or made redundant or their own businesses may have had to temporarily cease operations. While the government has announced a raft of measures including


financial support for businesses and individuals, it is currently unclear how quickly and easily these can be accessed. That uncertainty does not help cash flow in the meantime. Accordingly, while schools and other organisations may be


somewhere on the scale of keen to desperate to collect in unpaid debts, this operational necessity comes right at a time when many debtors find themselves simply unable to meet their obligations. Schools will need to distinguish between genuine “can’t pays” and those who are just reluctant. It is possible that a flexible approach may be needed for the former, particularly for those who have otherwise been prompt payers. While many schools will be under pressure to collect unpaid debts to


protect their own viability, one only has to consider the disdain for companies that appear to be acting outside the present public policy of doing the right thing to see that future relationships (and therefore future income) may depend on understanding now. On the other hand, there will always be those who seek to take


advantage of the present situation, who are in a position to meet their obligations but are not doing so, i.e. the “won’t pays”. For those, the usual credit control processes can be applied, and theoretically the usual follow up such as county court proceedings remains possible. However, creditors should be aware that county court proceedings are likely to disrupted. The Court service is an organisation also having to adapt to remote operations where possible and this is having an impact. Court hearings are being adjourned where remote hearings are not possible or appropriate, resulting in further delays. On enforcement, high court enforcement officers are currently unable to visit debtors, resulting on a de facto moratorium on that very popular and effective method of enforcement. Creditor action may further be restricted by the government’s proposed new measures such as introducing a new moratorium on creditor action. It is presently unclear on how this will apply. Almost certainly, clear credit control processes will need to go hand


in hand with forbearance wherever possible as schools navigate these uncertain times.


April 2020


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