Zara Phillips launched an engineering scholarship for women in London this morning (08.05.13).
Queen Elizabeth’s granddaughter appeared at the Royal Windsor Horse Show where she launched the Range Rover Evoque WISE Scholarship.
The grant will provide a £9,000 bursary to three female students or apprentices to further their studies or existing career.
Engineering is an important sector in Britain as a recent survey has said the country needs to double the number of graduates and triple the number of apprentices by 2020 to meet industry needs.
The British royal family has strong ties to engineering after The Queen, then Princess Elizabeth, joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service [ATS] aged 18, at her own insistence, in 1945. By the end of World War II she had risen to the rank of Junior Commander in the ATS.
Speaking about the new scholarship, Zara said: ”The UK has a rich heritage of women in engineering, encouraged by the success of the ATS. I’m delighted to be supporting the Range Rover Evoque WISE Scholarship which provides young women with the opportunity to progress their career.”
Zara also said she can relate to an industry where men and women are equal, as she regularly competes alongside males in professional showjumping competitions.
She added: ”In the Three Day Eventing world, I compete equally with men and enjoy the challenge. In fact, on the Olympic team there was actually only one man and we all made a great team. There are equal opportunities for both men and women to succeed in engineering and now is an exciting time to get involved.”