Shadow Science Minister Chi Onwurah MP has been visiting Peterborough today for a tour of the labs at ARU Peterborough. And, as part of International Women’s Day, she also spoke about the role of women and engineering at Peterborough College.
She was accompanied by Andrew Pakes, the Labour parliamentary candidate for Peterborough.
He said: “I’m here today at ARU Peterborough because I wanted to show off to Chi Onwurah the brilliant collaboration we’ve got in the city.
“Not just a new university but a new university for the people of Peterborough, investing in our jobs, in our equality and diversity and in the engineering works we need to rebuild our prosperity in the city.”
The shadow minister told CambsNews: “I’ve been so impressed with what I have seen today.
“It is International Women’s Day, and I am a woman engineer.
“I’m the shadow minister for science and yet you know there are not enough women in engineering in science and it’s not representative enough of communities.”
She added: “In seeing this facility here it’s inspiring local people, local communities of all backgrounds girls but also boys, working-class people, and everyone to feel that innovation and engineering is the future and is part of their future.
“Peterborough can grow and thrive based on high skilled high paid jobs from science engineering medicine – all those great areas.”
Labour’s plan for cross-government action is to break down barriers to create careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) for people in every community.
Labour would set a clear direction for government policy around diversity in STEM and help to widen participation in STEM jobs.
Chi Onwurah said: “Having the enormous privilege to earn my engineering degree was the basis for a wonderful career in professional engineering which took me all over the world.”
“However, many women and people from other under-represented groups are still excluded from pursuing rewarding careers in STEM. We are missing out on their talent and innovation, and we’re all worse off for it.
“On International Women’s Day, I’m proud to announce Labour’s commitment to a cross-government plan that will support people from all backgrounds and all parts of the country to benefit from well-paid jobs in STEM.”
