THEY invented windscreen wipers, the dishwasher, nappies and a widget that helped fighter pilots win the Battle of Britain.

But women engineers still make up a tiny minority of the profession in the UK, which has the lowest percentage of female engineers in Europe.

Now female engineering students in Glasgow are helping to change that by encouraging more girls to follow in their footsteps.

FemEng is a network for women in the School of Engineering at Glasgow University that goes into schools to talk about engineering, holds networking events with women industry professionals, and has international collaborations.

Hannah Gibson, 20, a Biomedical Engineering student and outreach convenor for the society, said: “Engineering is still a very male-dominated subject at the University and women today only make up 11 per cent of the UK engineering workforce.

READ MORE: University lecturer leading way for women in science

“A lot of girls are put off going into engineering because they don’t see many women role models – as the saying goes, if you can’t see it, you can’t be it.”

One of FemEng’s most important roles is to go into schools and show girls that women can be engineers, and that it’s a rewarding career.

“Girls are often put off STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects and we need to encourage more of them to take them up. I didn’t do Physics until I was studying for my Highers, so I had to do some catching up.

“Girls are put off engineering by its image as male and geeky. At one school talk, a pupil said she liked being a ‘girly-girl’ and asked if you can wear make up and feminine clothes as an engineer. When I tell people I’m an engineering student, the response is often: ‘Oh, but you don’t look like an engineer’.

“By going into schools and being role models, we can break down these barriers. I recently returned from an outreach trip to Rwanda where we went into schools along with female engineering students from the University of Rwanda. A ten-year-old girl wrote to me later and told me I had impressed her and she wants to be like me.

“In Scottish schools some girls are not interested, but if I’m able to show one of them that it’s an option for the future, that’s so rewarding.

READ MORE: Glasgow University students help women in Rwanda

“Engineering has an image problem but it is incredibly creative and does a lot of good in the world. As an engineer, you have a creative outlook on life, you want to improve things and make them more efficient. Engineering has a huge impact on people’s lives and can help disadvantaged communities.”

While women like Hannah are making inroads into engineering, there is still a long road to travel. Despite being one of the first countries to allow women to study mathematics and science at advanced academic level, the UK doesn’t stack up well compared to the rest of the world. In Europe, Bulgaria, Latvia and Cyprus lead the way with a 30 per cent female engineering workforce, while India has double the rate of our female engineering graduates at 30 per cent.

Paul Sheeran, Chief Executive of Scottish Engineering, believes the lack of women is hurting the profession – and should be tackled as far back as nursery school and continue through to high school.

“In the UK, we have an annual shortfall of 59,000 engineering graduates and technicians to fill roles, but we are missing out on some of the smartest people on the planet because they happen to be female. It’s holding our industry back.”