UK: Vince Cable says UK economy hampered by lack of female engineers

The problem is a lack of engineers, period. That exists because only so many people in a population have the interest and ability to fulfill the kind of engineering roles now in higher demand. Also bear in mind that 'engineering' is a term being used very broadly. Many would argue that that most IT workers (which is what I gather this guy is referring to, mostly) are not actually 'engineers' in the sense that they design and/or assemble mechanically or electrically complex systems to solve significant problems. There are a few sub-species of such people, too, the main ones being design engineers and applied engineers. (Another is the less-often found "theoretical engineer".) Some disciplines demand that a person fill both shoes well; for example, automation engineers have to be good at design and hands-on, expected to create start-to-finish, complete solutions single-handedly for a client, or with just one colleague. They are usually electrical engineers or mechanical engineers with a strong grounding in electronics theory and practice.

As for other engineers, these people design and supervise the building of all manner of things: structural engineers design and oversee the building of bridges, dams, etc. Many have to be civil engineer-certified (or the equivalent depending on where they live, a qualification usually quite hard to achieve). Architectural engineers design and oversee the building of large, complex, usually metallic structures like skyscrapers, and so on. Others are hybrid in abilities, such as fluid dynamics engineers who design large water-carrying systems like aqueducts and sewer systems-- they need to be well-versed in materials and sound structural design.

You gotta WANT to do this kind of thing. You also have to be schmmart, the right kind of schmmart, too. And you have to like getting your hands dirty, feet wet, and live for the thrill of being on a work site at 6:00 AM... or earlier.

Such glory!

Now IT workers-- there are such folks as computer engineers who design computers at the component level. Then there are the really super-schmart people who, let's face it, you would not want ever to cross swords with on "Jeopardy". These would be quantum electrical engineers and such-whats who design microchips and are at this very moment (somewhere in the world) trying to come up with a way to get computer chips to use "quantum superpositions" to be able to make gazillions of instantaneous calculations in such a fashion as to make IBM's "Big Blue" look like a good-for-nothing paperweight. These are very, very bright individuals.

And they don't come cheap.

And they are very rare.

And even if the UK or the rest of the world doesn't NEED quite so many of such uber-schmarrt people (since once they have it figured out, it's all about duplication), one thing's for sure: whether one is a "real" engineer or not, you gotta WANNA do what the job entails-- and have the right talents and abilities to do it. But the first req't is: WANNA!

That's what's needed.

How is he going to get that? Lots of "You go girl!" campaigns?

The problem is not that there are not enough females in engineering/IT. The problem is, for what a tech- and leisure- and information-hungry modern first-world population wants from computers and other inventions, there just ain't enough people either a) interested or b) schmarrt enough or c) both to fulfill the demand. So in the mean time, those that are doing it will make a nice living. But as for everyone getting what they want when they want it-- guess that'll take a bit of time.