27-year-old, Manly local Georgia Rooney, and 24-year-old Belinda Serafin, from Randwick on Friday became Registered/Licensed Surveyors and are now encouraging other young females to do the same .
 
 “More women need to get out there and experience surveying. I think the lack of females in the surveying industry is because many are unaware about what we do. And it’s hard to explain because we do so many different jobs,” Georgia said.

“Ultimately, construction projects can’t even commence until we define the legal property boundaries.

 

“But Surveying is much more than just defining boundaries, from laser scanning the Palm Beach Surf Life Saving Club House, to working on ground control for different waterways, the experiences I have had are endless.”

 

This comes after a recent report by BIS Oxford Economics, Determining the Future Demand, Supply and Skills Gap for Surveying and Geospatial Professionals: 2018 – 2028, reveals the representation of women in the surveying profession is significantly lacking.

According to the report, males make up over 87 percent of the surveying workforce, for all other occupation’s[KH3]  this is around 52 percent.
 
Michelle Billcavs, CEO of The Association of Consulting Surveyors National, congratulated the young women on their achievement and said the Association is urging young females to pursue surveying as a career.
 
“This is a remarkable achievement, they may not know it, but these girls are in fact pioneers, breaking down gender barriers and trends to pave the way for the more females to enter the industry,” Michelle said.
 
“From organising Women in Surveying events, to encouraging education institutions to offer more female scholarships, the Association is pushing for more females to enter the industry,” Michelle said.
 
The report also revealed the number of female students in undergraduate geomatics engineering degrees is significantly low, with females making up only 4 percent of all students in undergraduate geomatics engineering degrees across Australia in 2017.
 
NSW’s first female Surveyor General, Narelle Underwood, who was recently named as one of Science and Technology Australia’s 60 Superstars of STEM, says women need to realise that STEM degrees are now more important than ever.