“Intrinsically, we all deserve the same things. And a part of that is being given the same environment and opportunities, an equal playing field for all of us.”

– LEOMA BAHNTOFF, 17.

This week marks the sixth iteration of UNSW Canberra’s Young Women in Engineering (YoWIE) program, hosted at the ADFA campus in Campbell.

For three days, 11-13 April, 92 girls from Years 9-12 across eastern Australia trialled new activities that reflect the future of engineering: Building planes to deliver vaccines to remote locations, programming new robots, and using radio to return a lost astronaut to her spaceship.

UNSW Canberra aerospace engineer, Dr Bianca Capra reported that after the impact of the pandemic last year (200 girls expressing interest and having to turn 100 away) most were accepted into the 2022 program.

Defence Force Recruiting, GHD, Evo Energy, Icon Water, and cyber security company Penten, were just some of the companies that attended the first YoWIE careers fair this week, “speaking to the girls about where engineering will eventually take them”.

“YoWIE is about showing girls that they have everything we need as engineers,” said Dr Capra. “To build their confidence up and show them that they can do it.”

She explained how the catalyst of the program was the shortage of women in engineering.

Today, fewer than 13 per cent of degree-qualified engineers in Australia are female, but this is still a far advancement from when Dr Capra first entered the field.

“In 1998, I went from an all-female high school straight into mechanical engineering where, in a cohort of 50 people, two were female.

“What really stood out for me, why I’m so committed to this program and changing the field for our next generation, was that I was never taught by a female. I never saw a female lecturer in my engineering degree, not even at the tutoring level.”

Dr Capra, co-chair of YoWIE, noted that the program is picking up traction outside of Canberra.

“We’ve got girls from the Sydney region, Yass, Cairns, Wagga Wagga, regional New South Wales, and Victoria.”

Leoma Bahntoff is a first time YoWIE, in her last year of high school.

She travelled from her hometown in Victoria’s Southern Grampians to attend the program, after years of building “whatever I need really” in her workshop back home.

Leoma plans to study mechanical engineering at university.

“For a long time, I thought I would work in conservation and maybe as a side hustle, I could build things. Then halfway through Year 11 I was like, ‘Wait a minute, I got this switched up the wrong way around’.

“From prototyping to the final product, that’s where I would like to be.”

Stepping away from building an earthen dam with her peers, Leoma explained why programs like YoWIE are essential to her future field.

“If your job is to be making things for society, you need to have a design network that reflects that society. We need to be able to understand who we’re building things for.”  

To the next class of YoWIEs, she advises to avoid the ‘what ifs’ and “absolutely go for it”.

“Having mentors to talk to and explain these things just nurtures that little part of you,” Leoma said.

Dr Capra added that YoWIE is all about fun, and while participants are learning and forming connections, “they really enjoy the program”.

“They get to meet girls just like them with an interest in STEM or engineering, and maybe even ones that don’t. They come along to support their friend and then discover the spark.”

She hopes to encourage more sponsorships for the program in coming years, to cover the girls’ accommodation and expenses that are currently out of pocket.

“It’s important to support YoWIE because it really does change these girls’ career pathways and their self-belief and what they can do.

“It’s important, because we are seeing our YoWIEs turn up in our engineering schools, to be our future engineers, which is exactly what it was created for.”

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