Stagecoach marks International Women in Engineering Day 2022 by celebrating its female engineers

Credit: Stagecoach

In celebration of International Women in Engineering Day 2022 (23 June), Stagecoach has highlighted the increasing number of female engineers that have been joining its business, but has urged that more needs to be done to encourage more female engineers across the country.

Female engineering apprentices have recently joined to support Stagecoach’s bus operations in South Wales, East Scotland, Merseyside, East Midlands and in the west of the country. They join over 1,000 apprentices across the country being trained in a variety of roles from driving and engineering to human resources and learning and development apprentice qualifications. This marks the highest number of apprentices ever employed by Stagecoach, which operates over 8,300 buses and coaches across the UK.

Stagecoach has been offering engineering apprenticeships for over twenty years, and it also offers a ‘trade-up’ scheme, giving existing employees the opportunity to undertake and apprenticeship with the engineering team.

Taliah Cox, an engineering apprentice in Kettering, said: “I love the satisfaction of having a big job finished and then a running bus. I’ve even managed to take an engine out of a bus and put a different one back in and have it running again. I’m really proud to be part of the engineering team and I wanted to show that engineering is a place for women too.”

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Danieka Stanley, an Engineering Manager in Torbay, said: “I’m very proud to be the first female engineering manager in the south west. Stagecoach has done great work in encouraging more female employees into our business. It’s great to challenge the idea that the engineering industry is male dominated, and to set an example to girls across the country who may be considering this fantastic job for their future career.”

Janine Summers, Regional Director North for Stagecoach and Co-Chair of the Women@Stagecoach employee network, said: “We’re pleased to be marking International Women in Engineering Day today. This is something that is really close to my heart, and we were really pleased to welcome our highest number of female engineers at our last apprenticeship intake. However, there is still a lot of work to be done in encouraging more females to join our business across all roles, and in engineering roles across UK industry where national statistics show that only 11 per cent of engineers are female.”

In addition to encouraging more females to join, Stagecoach is also working on a number of initiatives internally to help ensure that its female engineers feel supported, such as engineering-specific networking events and promoting opportunities available internally through its trade-up scheme.