A BARROW pathfinder who led the way for women in engineering has taken pride in meeting today's female engineers.

Jill Thompson was one of the first female nuclear engineers to work at Barrow shipyard.

She joined the company in 1962 as a nuclear physicist and she retired 37 years later as the head of radiation physics and shielding.

Miss Thompson, of Barrow, enjoyed a successful and rewarding career and she helped pave the way for more and more females to aspire to become engineers in a male-dominated industry.

Today is National Woman in Engineering Day and to help BAE Systems Submarines celebrate, Miss Thompson visited the shipyard to meet the female engineers of today.

Miss Thompson, now 75, studied nuclear physics at the University of Liverpool. There were only four females studying on her degree course at the time. She was in Liverpool at the time when The Beatles were getting established, and she even met The Fab Four.

After graduating she wanted a career close to home and she applied for a position in the shipyard’s newly-formed radiation physics department.

Miss Thompson didn't believe she would get the job "because she was a woman" and was shocked to secure the post.

The retired engineer said she worked hard, did the job to the best of her ability, did not let gender hold her back and encouraged more women to get into engineering.

But joining the shipyard as a nuclear physicist wasn’t easy back then.

She said: "There weren’t many women here and some of my male colleagues couldn’t believe I was qualified to do the job.

"I’m actually quite a shy person but I learnt to stick to my guns – I became stubborn. I believed in the job and my ability so I had to make sure that I was heard. During my career I encouraged many women to get involved in engineering and I was fortunate enough to employ several very able female graduates.”

Fast forward to more than 50 years after Miss Thompson started at the shipyard and there are 1,128 women working for BAE Systems Submarines, the equivalent of 15.5 per cent of the workforce. Of these, 109 of the women work in engineering, which is 7.7 per cent of the area.

Russ Watson, BAE Systems submarines director of engineering, said: “It was fantastic to have Jill back in the business. A group of engineers at varying stages of their careers got the opportunity to meet her and shared their different experiences of the industry.

"Fortunately, we have come a long way since Jill started out as an engineer. The traditional stereotypes and pre-conceptions are slowly disappearing and, while numbers of women in the business are increasing, it’s clear we still have a long way to go.”

National Women in Engineering Day aims to dispel myths about engineering and raise awareness of the opportunities available to all engineers.

With the help of 200 plus Stem ambassadors, BAE Systems Submarines runs schemes all year round to promote science, technology, engineering and maths to inspire the next generation of workers, ensuring students know the opportunities open to all.