Hatch engineer featured in diversity media campaign

Engineers Geoscientists Manitoba recently announced that it has joined a national initiative of Engineers Canada, 30 by 30, which is working to increase the representation of women in engineering to 30 percent by the year 2030. Engineers Geoscientists Manitoba has partnered with the province and a number of large engineering firms, including Hatch and key client Manitoba Hydro, to show their support. As of December 2017, just 17.4% of newly licensed engineers in Canada were women.[i]

Elise Neufeld, a hydrotechnical engineer based in Hatch's Winnipeg, Manitoba office, recently represented Hatch in a media campaign to announce the launch of the initiative in the province of Manitoba. Elise was featured in several media interviews to announce the launch of the initiative alongside an engineer from Manitoba Hydro.

"I've had a really positive experience in engineering and as a woman. I felt very supported both in school and in the profession, and I understand that's not everyone's story, so I would love to make it more accessible for women and figure out how to raise the profile that this is a great profession for women to enter," Elise said in her interview with CBC.

Involvement in initiatives like 30 by 30 is just one of the ways that Hatch is contributing to the conversation around diversity and inclusion, both in our company and in the industries in which we work, which have faced challenged with regards to gender diversity.

“Our aspiration is to see women make up 40% of our total population by 2023. An important part of meeting that goal and seeing it sustained well into the future is feeding the pipeline of women entering the engineering field. Partnering with initiatives like 30 by 30 is an important part of how we as an industry are working together to tackle this legacy issue,” said Fransie Bloem, Hatch's Global Diversity & Inclusion Action Committee chair. “Having spokespersons like Elise contribute to the conversation in such a meaningful way is one way that we’re adding to this important dialogue.”

Click on the links below to listen to or watch Elise’s interview.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/engineering-women-increase-1.4901899

https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1539124

[i] https://engineerscanada.ca/diversity/women-in-engineering/30-by-30