“If I can do it, so can you” - Network Rail celebrates women in engineering for Ada Lovelace Day

Network Rail is today marking Ada Lovelace Day by celebrating two of the talented female engineers working across its network, as it continues its commitment to building an inclusive workforce.

Ada Lovelace Day celebrates the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), and highlights the continued need to attract, retain and develop female talent across the industry. 

Despite progress, women remain underrepresented in engineering in Britain. According to figures from EngineeringUK, women make up approximately just 16.9% of the engineering workforce. 

Network Rail employs thousands of engineers across its infrastructure, signalling, construction and maintenance teams, and has been working to increase the proportion of women in engineering roles through targeted recruitment campaigns, mentoring programmes, apprenticeships, and partnerships with schools to inspire the next generation of female engineers. 

Inspire, Network Rail's employee network for women and gender equality, has helped drive significant progress towards gender equality internally. The network has helped provide the supply of free period products at work sites, alongside the rollout of female PPE, and helped play a key role in Network Rail being named in the Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equality list five times, most recently this year.  

To mark Ada Lovelace Day, Network Rail is sharing the stories of two women and their journeys into engineering. 

“If I can do it, so can you” 

Emma Russell, an Asset Engineer in Scotland's buildings team, took an unconventional path into engineering. After spending almost 20 years working in administrative, retail and call centre roles, she joined Network Rail in 2019 as a Technical Clerk supporting asset engineers.  

 Emma Russell is an Asset Engineer in Scotland's buildings team

During lockdown, a senior engineer in Network Rail spotted her potential and encouraged her to consider engineering as a career. Despite not having all the necessary qualifications, Emma spent her evenings and weekends teaching herself GCSE maths from a book, then completed an equivalent A-level maths course through Aberdeen University, all while maintaining her career and looking after her young son. 

She then completed additional qualifications and undertook an HNC in Civil Engineering, funded by Network Rail. She progressed into an Assistant Asset Engineer role before being promoted to Asset Engineer. 

Emma credits Network Rail's support and flexibility with helping her balance study, childcare and career progression. As a single mother, she says that support made engineering a realistic and sustainable career choice. Emma celebrated her seventh year with Network Rail earlier this year.  

As a single mother, and like many other women, Emma was struggling to balance the competing challenges of childcare and building her career. Fortunately, Emma found that Network Rail gave her the flexibility to manage her workload and working hours allowed her to manage school runs and childcare without having to leave engineering. Emma said: “A lot of women, when they become mothers, they leave engineering because there's sometimes that inflexibility, and it can become more and more difficult to balance."  

Emma is passionate about female representation. As a teenager, she was pointed towards beauty therapy apprenticeships, while she said boys were encouraged into trades, and that disparity still frustrates her. 

Emma said: "It makes you quite annoyed in a sense that you feel like women were put onto those kind of career trajectories that weren't so stable or didn't have that same kind of income stream. I think representation really, really matters.  

"Engineering gets misunderstood sometimes. It's not just science and maths. There's so much more to it than that." 

Now, Emma wants to support the next generation of female engineers, and wants to encourage anyone who is interested in pursuing a career in engineering to follow their passions, even if they don't feel they have the right background. Her message is simple: "If I can do it, so can you." 

Inspiring the next generation 

For Inge-Sarah Andersen, now a Senior Asset Engineer and STEM ambassador, a career in rail was not always part of the plan. 

Inge-Sarah Andersen, a Senior Asset Engineer at Network Rail and STEM ambassador 

After initially aspiring to study physics, she discovered engineering through university and quickly realised it offered the opportunity to solve real-world problems while helping to improve people's lives. 

Today, Inge-Sarah works as a Senior Asset Engineer while also supporting outreach activity designed to inspire the next generation of engineers. 

Since joining Network Rail, she has become a passionate advocate for encouraging young people into engineering. She helped launch and grow the Fast Trackers outreach programme, giving hundreds of students from communities with low progression into further education an insight into engineering careers and the opportunities available in the rail industry. 

Inge-Sarah said: "Growing up, I didn't really know what engineering was. If I'd understood earlier the variety of opportunities it offers, I probably would have chosen it much sooner. 

"When young women see people like them succeeding in engineering, it helps them realise that these careers are open to them too. We need a wide range of perspectives and experiences in engineering, and visibility plays a huge part in helping people believe they belong. 

"Engineering gives you the chance to solve problems, make a difference and help shape the future. The railway needs people with different backgrounds, experiences and ways of thinking, and that's why role models matter. 

"I hope more young women see engineering as a career where they can thrive and make a real impact." 

Jodie Pocock, co-chair of Inspire, Network Rail's employee network for women and gender equality, added: "Ada Lovelace Day is an opportunity to celebrate the women whose expertise, innovation and leadership help keep Britain's railway moving every day. 

"Emma and Inge-Sarah's stories show that there is no single route into engineering. Whether you're leaving school, changing careers or returning to education later in life, engineering offers rewarding opportunities to learn, develop and make a real difference. 

"At Network Rail we're fully committed to building a more diverse and inclusive workforce, and we want more women and girls to see engineering as a career where they can belong, thrive and shape the future of the railway."