International Women in Engineering Day (INWED) aims to give female engineers around the world a profile when they are still hugely under-represented in their professions. According to recent statistics, women make up 16.5 per cent of all engineers in the UK and only 12 per cent in Ireland.
Schneider Electric is committed to gender equality. The company aims to create a more gender-balanced environment and challenge systemic inequities by empowering individuals to role model inclusion and become agents of change for broader societal impact.
Read the dedicated blog created by Schneider Electric's very own UK and Ireland based female engineers on what attracted them to a career in engineering. The blog content writers include Project Engineer Mia Richardson, Lead Systems Engineer Heba Nasif, and Customer Project Manager Cindy Chui.
Schneider Electric also marked International Day of Women in Engineering (INWED22) by joining the YoSoyIngenierA campaign. The campaign is organized by Womenalia, a movement that seeks to make visible female references in the technology sector to eliminate stereotypes, awaken vocations in the new generations, and celebrate the great contributions of women to the industry.
Sharing the experience and advice of women engineers
Schneider Electric IT Director, Laura Sancho, was in charge of representing Schneider Electric engineers in theYoSoyIngenierA initiative and sharing her experiences and advice with more than 24 students via a special session of speed mentoring.
"Look around you, how many successful women engineers do you see? On the International Day of Women in Engineering, we celebrate all female engineers around the world, especially our heroines at Schneider Electric. For all the amazing work you do, we thank you, we salute you, and we support you. Mention the female engineer you know and celebrate her with us!" said Schneider Electric.
Schneider Electric women share insights as female engineers
To celebrate INWED, Schneider Electric also asked some of its female engineers, "Why engineering?"
Mia Richardson, Heba Nasif, and Cindy Chui shared their personal insights as women engineers, into what attracted them to this career path, and what inspired them.
Meet Schneider Electric engineer, Mia Richardson
"What I love about Engineering is the combination of technical problem-solving and creative design that engineering provides," said Mia.
"For example, in BMS (building management systems). Taking a technical drawing and simplifying it for the user graphics gives creative freedom, while still having to make sure it's accurate to real life. Engineering is also different every single day. It’s a cliché, but I can honestly say no two days have been the same since I started in this role. You are always encountering new problems, learning new ways to tackle them and implementing new improvements. And as a final bonus, because it’s a practical job I rarely have to wear uncomfortable office wear!"
"It’s hard to decide where to go after university, as up until then you’ve followed a pretty standard path. All I knew that I wanted to do something every day that I was passionate about and that benefited the planet. You have to spend a lot of your adult life working, so I wanted to make sure I spent that time fighting one of my biggest anxieties: climate change. In addition, I’m quite a practical person and like to see the real world results of my work, I don’t like to be stuck behind a desk! Engineering allows me to achieve these goals every day," she said.
"Who inspired me, and why? Is a question I get asked a lot. Honestly, engineering has been such an integral part of my day to day since I started studying and working in the industry, that I don’t really remember where it all started. A big help were my mum and teachers at school (in fact - my mum was my A level physics teacher!), who always instilled the belief in me that I could go anywhere and do anything, gender was never even mentioned," explained Mia.
"Aside from that, I always saw myself as that person in the movie who could look at a schematic and instantly spot the way to fix the problem. Or take 3 random things I found and build something which saves the day. As unrealistic as I now realise that is, it still drives my excitement and curiosity in my work."
Mia advises: "The best career advice I have received is to never ever pretend you know what someone is talking about when you don’t. It can be overwhelming when you join a new project or are new to an aspect of engineering. Especially in a company like Schneider Electric with such a diverse range of products and applications, you are almost always new to something. It can feel very slow and painful to ask questions and stop someone whenever you don’t understand – but it is definitely much less painful than spotting a problem too late because you didn’t fully understand it at the time."
Meet Schneider Electric engineer, Heba Nasif
"I love the creativity and how new technology is driving the world. I like the idea of women being equal to men, especially in having the opportunity to be an engineer," shared Heba.
"I have two older sisters, both are civil engineers. When I saw what they had achieved in their career. Witnessed the drawings and the calculations they were doing to build new bridges in Baghdad (Iraq) (where I grow up). It inspired me and made me think what women are capable to do and can achieve. Best advice I had was to move from my standard engineer job to think wider. Help other junior engineers to learn from my experience and use my best leadership skills. This led me to be Lead Systems Engineer."
Meet Schneider Electric engineer, Cindy Chui
As an engineer, Cindy feels like she can contribute positively to the society. "For example in the work I do now, I provide smart metering solutions which help my customers in monitoring their energy usage and use their electricity in a more efficient way. This is very important to my customers especially now that we are facing rising energy bills and I am glad that I am able to deliver energy management solutions," explained Cindy.
"My uncle who is a civil engineer inspired me and introduced me to the world of engineering. His good work ethics combined with strong analytical and problem solving skills have allowed him to design and deliver major projects which have benefited the local community back home in Malaysia," she said.
"The best piece of advice I have ever received is to widen your work social circle and keep good contacts with people who can provide support. This is important especially when we are working in a large organisation like Schneider Electric. You never know who you will work with in the next five/ten years!"
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Disclosure: Where Women Work researches and publishes insightful evidence about how its paid member organizations support women's equality.