With a passion for the environment and a commitment to workplace diversity, Kate is an inspiration to many. We sat down with Kate to learn more about her journey from a child interested in mechanical toys, to becoming an innovator in her field.
Early Inspirations
From a young age, Kate was interested in practical toys and building. “One of my earliest memories is my dad and I building Meccano…I played with very practical toys from an early age and that was very much encouraged.”As she grew up, Kate recalls becoming passionate about the environment and points to David Attenborough as a key inspiration. “Those sorts of things made me want to do something better for the environment, to make the world a better place.”
She was also grateful for her exceptional physics and maths teachers in school, whose encouragement never made her question whether she wanted to take physics – even if it was a less common subject for girls!
Educational Journey
At school, Kate was initially unsure about what career she wanted to pursue, but has “always been passionate about water and passionate about the environment.”This passion led her to study Environmental Chemistry at university. During her studies, Kate's enthusiasm for water-related subjects intensified. She reflects, “I'd done a huge range of different types of environmental courses and I really, really liked the water ones.” This growing interest also caught the attention of her professors. “The guy in charge of my degree sat me down and suggested I’d be very suitable for taking a masters degree.”
During her master’s, Kate discovered an interest for sewage treatment – and her hands-on experience during her summer at Eastbourne Sewage Works was particularly formative (albeit smelly!). “I spent my summer at Eastbourne Sewage Works looking at fat removal from municipal sewage which, despite being very smelly, I really, really enjoyed and that has set the path of my career.”
Kate’s First Engineering Job
Kate's professional journey began at Bechtel Water, where she was part of a structured graduate programme. “It was approximately 60 graduates a year across the business. So, there were 240 over the whole four-year training programme.”She quickly demonstrated her aptitude for on-site work, noting “They very quickly found out that I was more site material than office material.” She enjoyed being out on site, but also began to experience the effects of gender inequality on-site. “Out on site was the first time I started to feel a bit different.”
Although the presence of female graduates in other departments at Bechtel was reassuring, there weren’t many female engineers around in Kate’s department – in fact, Kate was the only one!
Gender Inequality On-Site
On-site, Kate found that her male colleagues often did not respect her authority. “They struggled to take direction from me. Was it because I was female? Was it because I was very young? I should imagine it was a mixture of both. Was it because I was quite loud and bossy? Possibly that as well.”Despite these challenges, Kate found support among many of her colleagues, who valued her presence and contributions. She reflects, “A lot of the guys quite liked having a woman on site because it's a different sense of humour.”
Transition to Wessex Water and Leadership
After her role at Bechtel Water, Kate moved on to agency work, taking on several different positions. Her expertise and adaptability eventually led her to Wessex Water. “I took an agency position with Wessex Water, to commission chemical dosing plants for phosphorus removal.”She was then offered a job as a staff engineer, working her way up from senior engineer to Commissioning Manager.
Although Kate was hesitant at first – “most engineers I've spoken to don't have any desire to be a people manager, and I certainly didn't” – she quickly found a passion for leadership and management, realising that “a good manager can make a massive difference to somebody's life.”
The Impact of Menopause
One of the drivers for Kate’s transition from engineer to manager was the menopause symptoms she began to experience. “The brain fog for me was the worst thing I've ever experienced, and it threw me. I'd be mid-conversation and my mind would go blank, or I'd be in a meeting with people looking at me and start thinking, oh my goodness, what's wrong with me? And I didn't know that was even a symptom of menopause.”She also suffered from bad fatigue – “What I'd be able to do normally for several days in a row, I'd do it once and it would take three or four days to recover.”
Kate stresses the significance of vocal advocacy and support for women experiencing menopause in the workplace. She described one of the supportive measures implemented in her organisation: “We call them menopause coffee mornings, where you can go along and have a chat about it.”
Empowering Women in Engineering
“I love the idea of doing research,” Kate shares enthusiastically, highlighting her commitment to innovation in her field. “It has to continue because the technology we have at the moment doesn't meet the treatment standards we're going to have to achieve in the future.”She’s also passionate about using her experience and position to empower the next generation of engineers. “Something I feel I'm now able to do, and something I want to do over the next few years, is help people - especially young women, maybe from disadvantaged backgrounds,” she says.
Kate leaves us with this powerful message: “Gender should be the last thing people worry about when they look at where they want to go. Look at your personality, look at your capabilities, look at who you are and what you want to achieve. Never turn around and say, as a woman I don't think I should be doing that.”
Women in engineering are shaping the future of the industry in the UK. If you're looking to explore more opportunities in this field, or would like to access career resources for female engineers, reach out to Alexander Associates – our team of experts would love to help.
