Women in Engineering – Chloe Reeve lays down the law

Women in Engineering - Chloe Reeve speaking with the marketing team with a nakamura tome machine behind her Every year, 23rd June marks ‘International Women in Engineering Day’. In celebration of this important yearly event at Engineering Technology Group, our marketing department sat down with Chloe Reeve, Technical Coordinator, to learn about her experiences as a woman thriving in the engineering sector.

Starting her career as an apprentice, Chloe has finished her course and will continue to rise through the ranks – she now coordinates important initiatives within ETG and is a fundamental part of the team in Wellesbourne.

 

Hello! Could you introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your background?

 

“Hi! I’m Chloe Reeve I’m 22 and live in Coventry. I started ETG 4 years ago and have just completed my apprenticeship and am now in my last couple of weeks finishing HNC mechanical engineering. I came in as an Applications Engineer and then have since had a new role created, moving into training as a Technical Coordinator.”

 

How would you describe your experiences in engineering as a woman?

 

“As a woman, it has generally been good for me and I appreciate that I’m lucky as I’m in the right environment. In machine tooling it can be different to other sectors because it’s so client and sales orientated, and I have experienced a different side to engineering as a lot of my work is client-facing, securing deals and making sure everything is project managed effectively.”

 

Have you had any negative experiences?

 

“I’ve had a few comments and inappropriate remarks from men from other companies at exhibition shows, but have always brushed these off and stood my ground.  Even during my training as an apprentice, being outnumbered by men 10-to-1 never phased me as I was fully supported by my tutors. The boys were warned!”

“I travel around in my role and have visited other engineering businesses where apprentices have made comments in passing. I’ve always stood firm and informed them their comments were inappropriate and that it was gender discrimination. Seems to work just fine and it’s always important to confront those behaviours, particularly with the younger generation. Engineering is changing for everyone and all generations need to keep up.”

 

Good to know! Could you tell us a bit about gender diversity at ETG?

 

“ETG don’t treat me any differently to the rest of the team which is absolutely what I want. ETG trusts in my abilities as a professional. Being a woman is a bonus.”

“Every person within the organisation is accepting and you can tell that a strong ethic of diversity is driven from the inside-out at ETG, particularly as there is an existing female presence here.”

 

We better let you get to work! Thanks for meeting us, Chloe.

 

“Thank you!”

 

ETG support and promote an important standard of gender diversity for all our employees, whether male, female or any other representation of gender. We believe our employees should be able to bring their whole selves into work and to do that we need to ensure our work environments are as accepting and elevating as possible for individuals from all walks of life.