A host of major food, beverage and automation manufacturers including ABB, Goodman Fielder, Mondelez and Coca-Cola Amatil participated in the Girls Experience Industry Day which took place in Melbourne last week and Sydney earlier this week.
Organised by The National Association of Women in Operations (NAWO) the events were designed to introduce and encourage girls aged between 14-17 to consider careers in operational roles within the R&D, innovation and technology fields.
The open days included a morning site visit to one of the participating companies where the girls learnt about the technologies and skills required in the respective businesses. The site visits were followed by a careers fair where all the participating companies came together to showcase their company and the careers available.
Rebecca Roberts, country HR manager for ABB in Australia said that ABB was pleased to participate in the event. “The girls heard from our female graduates and senior managers on their experience in working in a global engineering company and also had hands-on fun interacting with ABB’s robots and building solar powered toy cars,” said Roberts. “These are the kinds of technologies that we work with every day.”
Angela Tatlis, Chair of NAWO said that it is important to encourage girls to think about potential career opportunities at a young age.
“NAWO is creating a number of development programs and networking opportunities for women in industry, but it’s also important that we attract and engage young women in their formative years of thinking about which career path they will take. Understanding how a business runs, ie ‘the engine room’, is critical for women to be strong leaders and we are working with industry to create opportunities for women” said Tatlis.
“If you look at engineering, females comprise approximately 10 per cent of the Australian engineering labour force. This is a very low number when you consider women make up 51 percent of all professionals in Australia.”