Rowenna Walker

In her own words 

I grew up in the United Kingdom and when I was around 13, I went on a school visit to the new Thames Barrier, designed to protect central London from flooding. What I loved about the project was the simplicity of the engineering solution with the barrier comprising conical shaped arms that basically moved up to offer protection when a flood event occurred. It was quite beautiful architecturally and a civil engineering marvel of its time, importantly preventing widespread flooding in London - saving lives. Looking back, it formed an important initial inspiration. 

I didn’t know anyone who was an engineer but was encouraged by a school career advisor to enter the profession. It wasn’t until the third year of my degree when I did my industrial placement working on a road widening project in the north-west of England that I really appreciated what engineers did.  I loved being on site, where solutions were created and I loved seeing the progress we made. The company I did my placement with sponsored me in my final year of study and I joined the company upon graduation to work on the M25 widening.  

When I was working there a memo appeared on the notice board saying, ‘site engineers wanted in Hong Kong’. I was 22, living at home and had never been outside of Europe and I immediately said ‘yes, I’m going.’ It proved to be a turning point in my career.  Three weeks after reading the notice, I was in Hong Kong and working on the ‘new’ Lantau Airport railway.  

I am a public transport advocate and rail was my destiny. If we only keep building roads for private vehicles, more cars will use them; what we need to focus on is mode shift and look at mass transit offerings, particularly in cities.  

Safe to thrive 

The number of women engineers remains stubbornly low. When I graduated, around 10% of the cohort were women, today it is still under 20%. In Australia, there are societal issues around where engineering is revered as a profession that you do not see in Iran or European countries. There, it is viewed as a prestigious career equally for men and women. The other layer is the culture we have here, which is the predominantly male-dominated, engineering-construction industry which needs to be constantly and consistently addressed. This is being done by the Australian Constructors Association and other stakeholders, but it’s a slow journey. 

Hiring practices across Aurecon and with consultants have improved, particularly around securing a 50/50 gender split at the graduate level - that is a significant change from 20 years ago. But, those figures are not being reflected when we look at the number of women in senior leadership levels. There has been progress, but there is still more to do. I was part of the original Women in Rail subgroup of the Australasian Railway Association (ARA) around 15 years ago and it is pleasing to see this work grow and gain momentum. 

The fact is, there are no silver bullets. I think the work of the Champions of Change groups is sophisticated and bold, particularly in terms of setting targets and securing leadership commitment. You can recruit as many women as you like but if you don’t offer an environment where they feel they belong, are safe and can thrive, it’s pointless. We need to just keep challenging the old ways of working and normalise different approaches, particularly around flexibility which benefits both women and men across the workforce. We also need to nurture and encourage girls to take maths and science-based subjects in the critical years 8 and 9 of their schooling and provide role models. 

Embrace the daunting 

The best advice I got and acted on was ‘take the opportunity’, which I did when I moved to Hong Kong. At the time, I had come through the same training and was working on a project with a fellow graduate and we both read the memo on the notice board, but he hesitated about moving from the UK. Years later and without prompting he told me he wished he had gone to Hong Kong and he regretted not taking that action.  I think while opportunities can be scary at first, you need to seize them and be bold.  

When I took on the role of New Zealand Operations Manager, Buildings and Infrastructure with SKM, I had young kids and had missed out on two previous role opportunities at this level in Sydney where I was living. It was daunting. The NZ opportunity turned out to be better than the roles I had gone for previously and made my career so much more diverse. It is interesting that sometimes what you initially think is a failure, actually turns out to be the far better option. 

I do a lot of mentoring and am often asked by mid-career women about how to deal with non-respectful situations, including being ignored or talked over. My advice is to call out the bad behaviour, ask for feedback and provide feedback in a way that makes people understand what they are doing is not right. Many women are also seeking guidance on how to navigate their careers and when to stay or leave their employers. I don’t have the answers, but I equip them with questions they need to ask themselves about what they enjoy doing and what they are good at, to help them shape their career decisions. While the grass isn’t always greener, if you are stuck in a rut, it’s worth asking: What is the worst that can happen if I move? The worst is that you are going to learn!