STEMpowered: Designing a Future Women Want to Stay In.
Challenge
The water sector is critical to the UK’s future—but it still isn’t seen as a go-to industry for women in STEM. Despite improvements in recruitment, representation and retention of women remains stubbornly low, particularly in technical, engineering, and operational roles. Recent NWG data and WUN research reveal a troubling trend: a high proportion of women are considering leaving the sector altogether.
We’ve made progress—but now is the time to act boldly. We need to co-design a sector that women want to join, grow in, and lead—not just survive in.
What will we do?
The dash will bring together women in STEM, allies, leaders, and industry voices to reimagine how the water sector attracts, supports, and retains women throughout their careers. In just one day, we’ll:
- Dive into the data—what’s really happening within the utility sectors
- Explore the lived experience of women in STEM, from early careers to senior roles
- Identify key breakpoints in progression, culture, and retention
- Uncover what’s working well—and how to amplify it
- Share and learn best practices from other utility businesses
- Produce a set of practical, ready-to-test ideas for driving change
We’ll co-create targeted interventions, messaging strategies, and leadership actions that can regenerate our approach to diversity and inclusion—not as a tick-box, but as a driver of culture, performance, and long-term innovation.
How we will do it?
Participants will move through a focused series of insight-driven and collaborative design sessions to tackle the challenge head-on. Across the day, we will:
- Review recent NWG data and WUN insights to understand where and why women are leaving the sector
- Map key career moments where support breaks down—entry, mid-career transitions, leadership progression, and points of exit
- Create “day-in-the-life” stories and career journey visuals that surface barriers, enablers, and emotional moments that matter
- Design rapid-fire ideas—including campaigns, policies, leadership behaviours, and practical nudges to boost retention and representation
- Co-develop a starter communications and leadership toolkit based on best practices from the utility sector to embed change from the shop floor to senior roles
The Dash will be energised by real stories, data-led discussion, and fast-paced collaboration—delivering ideas ready to test and share.
Target Outcomes
This one-day Dash will culminate in a set of tangible, high-impact outputs, ready to share and build on. By the end of the session, we will have:
- A shared understanding of the key reasons women are leaving the water sector—and the biggest opportunities to intervene
- A draft set of retention and support ideas, linked to key career stages (entry, mid-career, progression)
- Core messaging themes and engagement ideas to help attract and retain women in STEM roles
- Early-stage recommendations for policy, leadership action, and inclusive culture-building
- A first outline of how we might track and measure progress—setting a foundation for long-term change
These outputs will be captured, refined, and ready to take into internal conversations, leadership reviews, or future development sessions.
Who will benefit from this sprint?
- Women across STEM disciplines will gain more visible, supported, and achievable career pathways—designed for long-term growth and success.
- People managers and team leaders will be better equipped to support and champion inclusive development
- Recruiters and employer brand teams will gain messaging that resonates with future talent
- Industry leaders will benefit from better retention, deeper innovation, and stronger team performance
- The sector as a whole will take a step toward greater equity, diversity, and resilience—rooted in real change, not just representation
