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Less than ten per cent of Britain's engineers are women. This is the lowest of all European countries. Vince Cable, the UK Business Secretary, said this would be an "enormous problem for years to come". He said more women needed to go into computer science. Many women have degrees in computer science, but there are so few female computer engineers. Cable suggested that many companies had a "psychological barrier" against women becoming engineers. He said half of state schools don't have any girls doing physics and that the UK was "only tapping half the population".

The UK started a new campaign on November the 4th to get more women into engineering. It is called "Tomorrow's Engineers Week". Mr Cable said at the launch that engineering was vital for the future of UK industry. He said it was important to act now to make sure businesses get the skilled engineers they need to grow. Siemens UK said Britain had to help young people understand how engineering can be a rewarding career. The campaign website said it would show all the exciting businesses and industries that need the work of creative engineers.