SENIOR leaders at the Institution of Engineering and Technology are calling for "urgent action" to address the shortage of women in UK engineering as only nine per cent of the UK’s engineering workforce - while 63% of UK engineering employers do not have gender diversity initiatives in place.

Businesses across Hampshire spent a day inspiring women to get involved in engineering.

At BAE Systems, year eight pupils from five schools visited the Portsmouth Naval Base to see where careers in science, technology, engineering and maths could take them.

A strategic Squashed Tomato Challenge and a photo booth inside a Type 45 Destroyer were just two of the activities designed to get girls hooked on science.

Emily Thorpe-Smith, Director of STEM Engagement at Winchester Science Centre and Planetarium, said: “Inspirational events of this kind are critical to promoting diversity in all areas of STEM. The pupils have had the opportunity to meet great female role models and gain invaluable real-life experience at Portsmouth Naval Base. I’m sure they will have left feeling engaged, enthused and inspired to continue their education and eventually a career in STEM.”

Across the water female engineers were celebrated for their impact on global aviation at Snowflake Software.

The company - which provides cloud and on-premise software solutions for the aviation industry - is headed up by former NASA senior architect Nadine Alameh, while Principal Engineer Virginia Hodge works with Project Manager Rosie Malhao to deliver the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) SWIM Gateway, which will share authoritative flight information across the U.A.E. region.

Data Engineers Xia Zhao and Yvonne Zannoun have used their skills to deliver the NATS XMAN project, which reduced holding stacks at Heathrow Airport to save over £4m of fuel and 35,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year.

Niha Shaikh has been with Snowflake for 6 years, and is now Product Owner for the Laminar Data Platform, which is the world’s first commercial platform dedicated to managing flight, weather and aeronautical data to improve global aviation efficiency.

Yvonne Zannoun, Data Engineer at Snowflake Software, said: "I've had an amazing experience in engineering at Snowflake. It’s hugely rewarding to work on the XMAN project with NATS, which manages flight arrivals at Heathrow and has won global awards for its success. I encourage women and girls everywhere to consider tech and engineering as a career path, it's empowering, exciting and very satisfying!"