THE engineering profession must do more to highlight its importance and dynamism if it is to persuade more women to join the industry.

The claim has come after a survey among female staff at engineering firm WSP suggested there was a lack of awareness among women in general about the variety of roles the sector has to offer.

However, the poll also found that gender was not a barrier to females looking to enter the profession or to their career prospects.

Ginette Borduas, an environmental consultant at WSP's Edinburgh office, said she has been surprised to find so few females in engineering roles compared to her native Canada since moving to Scotland in July.

While she agrees that gender is not stopping more women from entering the industry, she does think more has to be done to showcase the range of jobs it offers.

Ms Borduas, who has spent 20 years working in the sector, said: "Maybe it is something we need to promote a bit more towards women, but also towards men [and] the younger crowd.

"They want to change the world, they want to be part of innovative organisations. They want to feel that what they do has a meaning. That is true for anything.

"If we cannot promote engineering for women and be perceived as something really innovative [and] socially responsible, it might not interest them. It is more in that aspect that [it] would make a difference."

Ms Borduas said a change in emphasis in the education system might persuade more women in Scotland to consider a career in the profession.

This chimed with one of WSP's key survey findings, that the school curriculum should be adapted to put more focus on STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects and for engineering to feature more prominently in careers advice.

Ms Borduas contrasted the UK with Quebec, where she said there are more female undergraduates in "the big schools", such as McGill University in Montreal, and more women employed by engineering firms.

Ms Borduas, who has a degree in urban planning and a graduate diploma in applied business management, added: "The problem is not the opportunities at work, it is why aren't there more women studying science in general? Why aren't they more interested in doing engineering studies?

"It said in the survey that engineering is associated with a type of work that is not as appealing as other fields of expertise, which is sad because I have been working in an engineering firm for 22 years and I have seen how it has evolved in the last two decades.

"Again, it is not the opportunities that are missing, it is the approach to the work we do that has changed a lot."

Mr Borduas, whose role is to assesses the environmental impact of development projects, said many people have a fixed impression of engineering that is not strictly accurate.

Many women would find the sector attractive, she believes, due to how the sector offers a great diversity of roles that impact on the wider world and provide the opportunity to work alongside others.

For example, Ms Borduas said: "The image that most women have of an engineering job is being in front of a computer with a spreadsheet and tonnes of numbers, and that's it.

"Although the spreadsheet is needed, and the numbers are important, if you are running a model to find out if the noise will reach such levels that it will destroy the quality of life in an entire area, it is part of something bigger. It is not just [about] the numbers.

"Engineering work is so much more. You can make it actually what you want. In Quebec we used to say engineering leads you to everything. I am sure it is the same here."

Ms Borduas added that, while WSP is proud to employ a higher number of female engineers than the sector average, its strategy is "not down to numbers".

She added: "I don't care if it is a man or a woman - it is the right person [that is important]."