Alisa joined the construction sector through a degree apprenticeship when she was 19 after she completed her A levels. Since then, Alisa has worked on four projects, won awards and gained experience as an engineer.
“I want to inspire and increase the number of women in the industry”.

When I first joined, I wasn’t very confident to be in a male-dominated sector, it was daunting. It impacted my confidence and I felt I wasn’t good enough. However, once I settle in, I realised how much I enjoyed engineering and I shouldn’t let any barriers come my way. I appreciate that the construction industry does have stereotypes in terms of the work that ‘men do’, which is why I try to take part in events like this and have discussions in schools to eliminate any concerns. I am also an equality, diversity and inclusion representative at my company, where I ensure practices are in place so others feel comfortable including women. This may involve providing sanitary towels, female toilets and female PPE. Unfortunately, I  have only worked with two female engineers since I joined, but I hope to work with more. Around 12% of those working in the engineering sector are female, and as a Pakistani, practising Muslim female, this is an even smaller percentage.   It is a shame the percentage is low, however, when you look at the percentages over the years, we have made progress. I hope to increase this percentage and encourage women to join the Civil Engineering industry, which has many opportunities available!