Spaghetti and marshmallows have become the latest recruitment tools in a drive to raise schoolgirls’ interest in engineering as a career. Building a tower out of pasta and soft sweets was just one of the challenges set by engineering and design consultancy Atkins in a series of workshops for year 9 girls earlier this year.

The workshops, part of the Skirting Science initiative, delivered by more than 20 employers and educational institutions to 11 schools in North Somerset, were designed to inspire and inform girls about careers in science and engineering.

They were managed by Marie Adeyemi, a mechanical engineer who joined Atkins last year after graduating from Nottingham University with a masters in materials manufacture.

“I am an inner-city girl from London, so the girls only have to look at me to see that you do not have to have a traditional background to become an engineer,” she says. “It is still quite a male environment but that does not mean I have to try to be like the men. I can be myself, I can be girlie if I want to be and that does not stop me being a good engineer. “

The idea of the workshops was to introduce the girls to engineering skills in a fun way and show them how the things they learn in class can be put into practice. It is aimed at girls before they make their GCSE choices and I think we changed a lot of their ideas about science. Some came thinking it was going to be boring but they left understanding that engineers are problem solvers. It’s like being a detective.”

The need to increase girls’ interest in science, engineering and technology was highlighted by this year’s A-level results. Girls remain reluctant to choose science subjects at A level, even though those who do achieve better results than boys, according to the UK Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology. Girls make up about one fifth of A-level entrants in physics and fewer than 10 per cent in computing.

Science and technology is not the only male-dominated sector seeking to diversify by targeting girls before they leave school.

J. P. Morgan, the investment bank, has developed a schools programme that offers female A-level students an insight into the world of finance. The students spend four days at the company learning how different departments operate and receiving training in key skills. They meet “inspirational” female leaders and are encouraged to network.

“Our Winning Women schools programme provides talented female A-level students with an understanding of a career in financial services,’ says the managing director Ina De. “We run similar Winning Women events for university students and this support continues through our women’s networks for employees.”

Jones Lang LaSalle, the global property company, is also aiming to improve its gender balance, by organising work placements for girls from the Central Foundation Girls’ School in Bow, London, and visits by a group of 16-year-old girls from Herschel Grammar School in Slough, Berkshire.

Research interested her, but Jenny McDonald did not want to follow the academic path after studying physics and astrophysics at university. Instead she joined BAE Systems’ graduate scheme. “Here I am still doing research and development, but there is a lot more focus on application,” McDonald, now 31 and the group leader of Integrated Structural Systems at BAE, says.

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