“We already have a diverse team.” A familiar sentiment in many workplaces. But behind it is a bigger question: what does diversity really look like in practice? Is it simply about who is represented, or can it change how a team sees and solves a problem?
Drawing insights from EIT’s All Things Engineering podcast episode, “The Real Value of Diversity in Engineering,” this feature takes a closer look at the perspectives that enter the engineering room when people bring different experiences and ways of thinking to the table. Sometimes, seeing a problem from a different angle can reveal possibilities that a team might have overlooked.
Who Gets to Shape a Solution
When an engineering team sits together around a table, there is more in the room than technical expertise. Each person brings their own experiences and ways of seeing the world. Oftentimes, it is shaped by factors such as gender, ethnicity, disability, and age. These differences can influence the knowledge and perspectives they bring to the discussion that ultimately raises a question: who gets to shape the way an engineering challenge is understood and approached?
That question becomes even more interesting when looking at who is represented across Australia’s engineering profession, for example.
According to Engineers Australia’s 2025 report on Gender Economic Equality Study, more than 60% of qualified engineering professionals were born overseas. Women account for 16% of those who work in engineering occupations, while Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people represent 0.3% of the engineering workforce. Together, these figures show the breadth of backgrounds already represented in Australian engineering.
The question, then, is what might come into focus when different perspectives meet, and what might a team have overlooked without them?
What Gets Seen Differently
Bringing different perspectives together is only the beginning. For those perspectives to have an impact, there needs to be room for people to share what they notice and contribute to the conversation. Eventually, this is where the distinction between diversity and inclusion becomes important.
As Head of Engineering at APAC Wood Jillian Formentin emphasized in EIT’s All Things Engineering podcast episode, “The Real Value of Diversity in Engineering,” “Diversity is all different people being invited to the party. Inclusion is all different people being invited to dance.”
Her analogy points to a broader meaning of diversity being a representation that opens the possibility for different perspectives, but with inclusion creating whether those perspectives become part of the experience. In an engineering context, this means looking beyond who is present and considering whether people have the space to participate, contribute, and influence the workplace.
What Makes a Team Truly Inclusive
Inclusion also shapes how organizations recognize and value the talent they have in front of them. As Jillian points out, this can mean challenging some of the assumptions that surround diversity in the engineering workplace:
- Diversity does not lower standards – Hiring a more diverse workforce does not mean changing the professional standards expected of engineering professionals. It means ensuring qualified people are not overlooked simply because they do not fit the traditional profile. A qualified female engineer, for instance, should be held to the same technical standards as any other candidate. What matters is whether she has the skills and experience needed for the role.
- Broadening the talent pool can reveal capable people – Looking beyond the usual universities and professional networks can help organizations reach a wider range of qualified engineering professionals. Someone who enters the profession through a different pathway, for instance, may bring the same technical capability alongside the people in the team.
- Diversity matters in technical fields too – Engineering may rely heavily on numbers and technical specifications. However, it also involves understanding people, considering how designs affect the communities who use them. Different experiences can help engineering professionals see these human considerations from more than one perspective and recognize the needs that technical analysis alone sometimes may not reveal.
As EIT Dean Indumathi V puts it, “It’s more about expanding the lens of how we see talent.” For ultimately, a truly inclusive engineering workplace is not one that simply brings different people into the room. It is one that is willing to recognize what each person can contribute once they are there.
Reference
2025 Report on Gender Economic Equality Study
This article was published September 15th, 2026 and the content is current as at the date of publication.
