Women’s History Month 2025 – honouring history’s leading female engineers

For centuries, women have played a vital role in engineering and have helped shape the world we live in today. Yet, in 2025, gender bias prevails and underrepresentation of women in engineering continues to be an issue. To mark Women’s History Month, the Engineering Council shared the stories of history’s leading female engineers to inspire upcoming female engineering talent.

Letitia Chitty MA CEng FRAeS MICE (1897-1982)

Isabel Hardwich MA CEng MIEE1 MIOP HonMWES (1919-1987)

Peggy Lilian Hodges OBE MA CEng FRAeS FIMA HonFIET (1921-2008)

Professor Margaret Law MBE BSc CEng FIFireE FSFPE (1928-2017)

Margaret Law was a fire safety engineer and considered a pioneer in the then new field.  She spent 20 years at the UK Government’s Fire Research Station where she established herself as one of the world’s leading fire scientists, contributing to 34 reports. In 1974 she joined the Ove Arup Partnership where she worked on major projects such as Pompidou Centre in Paris and Kansai International Airport in Japan.

The achievements of these women, and many more, laid the foundation for all future female Chartered Engineers (CEng), Incorporated Engineers (IEng) and Engineering Technicians (EngTech). However, according to EngineeringUK’s 2024 data, the proportion of women working in engineering and technology roles has declined in the past year from 16.5% to 15.7%, specifically among women aged 35 to 44. In contrast, 56.1% of women make up the rest of the UK workforce.

With this in mind, continued efforts are needed to attract and maintain female engineers. The sector, including engineering and technology companies, must understand why few women pursue a career in STEM and leave early, and from there, create better opportunities and incentives for them to return.