A senior engineering leader discusses how to ensure the industry has a talent pool capable of meeting global sustainability goals.
Alice Chow, Advisory Business Lead for East Asia at Arup and Vice-President of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE), believes Australia and Hong Kong have many similarities: beautiful beaches, a vibrant arts and culture scene, and strong investment and growth potential.
The two counties also share some of the same challenges, however. When Chow recently visited Australia to reconnect with Engineers Australia for the first time since the COVID pandemic, she discussed how to champion more women in engineering, and ensure the industry has a talent pool capable of meeting global sustainability goals.
A strong basis
To meet those challenges, Chow believes the key is to leverage women’s diversity of thought and innovative thinking.
Currently, only 16 per cent of qualified engineers in the Australian labour force are women. When she started her career more than 30 years ago, Chow said she was one of only two female students in a class of 60; career opportunities were limited.
“It’s not that the men didn’t like females, but they would not place them in important roles,” she told create. “They asked you to do the coordinating, the messy things. But that is how I gained my experience. I had to get very hands on to solve problems and I had to do it by myself.”
Chow started in civil engineering in the UK and after returning to Hong Kong became a structural engineer. One of the projects that stands out in this phase of her career was the San Miguel Brewery.
“I was assigned to look after the structural design of that project,” she said. “But after my colleagues returned to the UK, I was left to do project management work and take care of the team.
“I was very young then – only 33 – and it is a project that I really treasure, not just structurally, but [because] I was given the chance to understand architecture, processing, mechanical, electrical, geotechnical – everything.”
Chow went on to manage several award-winning projects such as Hong Kong’s airport, the HSBC data centre and the city’s hospital. She is now Advisory Business Lead for East Asia at Arup, sits on the East Asia Arup Board, and is a well-regarded mentor for the next generation of engineers.
She accredits persistence as one of the main reasons she has been successful. Chow gave an example of how she introduced sustainable development goals (SDG) into the HKIE, persuading not only those in the profession to join her cause but also the government.
“The government followed my advice and [is] developing SDG assessment tools for infrastructure projects, which they will announce soon,” she said. “However I did not stop there. I continue to persuade the HKIE to develop SDG guidance for all engineers to follow.
“We have 22 disciplines, so of course one size does not fit all, but I have taken on the role of persuading all the division chairmen to prepare their own SDG videos and understand how that impacts on their projects.”
Flexibility-first
Chow is also passionate about the need to embed flexibility into workplaces to support women who want to manage personal and family responsibilities with their professional development.
“In Australia, it’s great to see fantastic examples of women in engineering holding key leadership roles, such as Engineers Australia CEO Romilly Madew,” she said.
“For the first time, Arup’s Australia region is led by two female co-chairs, Kerryn Coker and Kate West, who actually created the shared model so they could continue to prioritise their young families around the commitments of leadership.”
Chow advises female engineers to “not be scared; go out and experience the world, and don’t rely on anyone to solve problems for you”.
“I took a year off to join Médecins Sans Frontières as a volunteer logistician. Basically I [did] everything the doctors and nurses don’t do: organise locations, shelters, medicine, food, fixing the car … because I’m an engineer I can solve problems.
“My first mission was in Afghanistan, and I actually had an advantage being a woman because I could make contact with the local people. I had to learn how to protect myself and also how to convince the men as they didn’t believe a woman could be an engineer.
“So I tell young female engineers to … make the best of your skills and capability. There’s so much to do in the world. With your knowledge, you will change some people’s lives.”
International Women in Engineering Day 2024 recognises the incredible contribution women engineers are making to the profession.