Women In Engineering

Six women headed to space yesterday in what Blue Origin is calling a historic all-female crew. But as a woman who's navigated male-dominated spaces throughout my career, I'm deeply conflicted about what this moment represents. The symbolism of the world's first "glam" space crew: The crew includes Lauren Sánchez (Bezos's fiancée), Katy Perry, Gayle King, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, producer Kerianne Flynn, and former NASA scientist Aisha Bowe. It's a diverse group of accomplished women, which in itself feels significant. Yet I can't stop thinking about Katy Perry's words: "Space is going to finally be glam. Let me tell you something. If I could take glam up with me, I would do that. We are going to put the 'ass' in astronaut." This framing raises complex questions about representation: 1. The mixed message problem: When Elle magazine proudly notes this will be "the first time anyone has been to space with their hair and makeup done," are we celebrating women's access to space or reducing their presence there to appearance? 2. The "exceptional woman" paradox: While highlighting accomplished women is important, does the celebrity focus perpetuate the idea that women need to be exceptional to earn their place in traditionally male domains? 3. The coded language concern: Would we ever describe an all-male crew as "putting the 'ass' in astronaut"? Does this language reinforce the idea that women's achievements must be packaged with femininity to be palatable? What genuine progress might look like: True representation isn't just about having women present—it's about changing the fundamental structures that have limited women's access. The first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova, flew solo in 1963. Six decades later, should we be celebrating that women can now access space with their "hair and makeup done," or should we be asking why women remain severely underrepresented in aerospace engineering, astrophysics, and astronautics? The questions I'm wrestling with: → Is this reinforcing stereotypes while appearing to break them? The focus on glamour and appearance sends mixed messages about what female achievement looks like and what we should celebrate. → Does representation matter even when packaged in problematic framing? Perhaps getting more girls and women interested in space through any means is progress—even if the messaging is imperfect. → When women enter male-dominated spaces, must they choose between being "one of the boys" or leaning into hyper-feminine presentation? Is there room for authentic self-expression? → Is this moment a genuine step forward for women in space, or primarily a calculated distraction in the billionaire space race that co-opts feminist language for commercial gain? What do you think? Share your perspective below 👇 Photo: Blue Origin ♻️ Found this helpful? Repost to share with your network.  ⚡ Want more content like this? Hit follow Maya Moufarek.

In 1879, Mary Walton, a groundbreaking American inventor, patented an innovative system to reduce train #pollution by funneling smoke through water. Her system aimed to improve air quality in cities affected by the thick smoke produced by trains, which was a major concern in rapidly #industrializing America. Walton's invention utilized water to trap the harmful particles in the smoke, making the air cleaner and reducing environmental damage. This approach was ahead of its time, showcasing her ingenuity and forward-thinking approach to solving urban #pollution problems. Walton didn’t stop with pollution control. After learning of Thomas Edison's failure to reduce noise from elevated #railway tracks in New York City, she took it upon herself to tackle the problem. Edison's method of sound-dampening for railway tracks had proven unsuccessful, but Walton saw it as an opportunity. In response, she developed a new sound-dampening system that was more effective, offering relief to New Yorkers who lived near the noisy and disruptive elevated trains. Her success in this venture further demonstrated her ability to solve complex issues and her critical role in shaping early #environmental #engineering. Walton's contributions to industrial innovation helped shape the way cities dealt with pollution and noise in the late 19th century. While her inventions were not widely celebrated during her time, her work laid the groundwork for later advancements in environmental engineering. Her legacy is an example of how women in science and engineering, though often overlooked, have made significant contributions to technological progress and urban development. Walton's work remains a testament to the power of innovation in improving public health and quality of life. #InnovativeWomen #EnvironmentalEngineering #WittyHistorian

A peek into the changing recognition of women in STEM through the Nobel Prize 🏅 "History points to a tendency to gloss over and leave out the contributions of women who have worked alongside men in their scientific findings. However, recognition of women in awards such as the Nobel Prize has been transforming. Despite a history of underrepresentation, women have seen gradual advancements in their involvement in STEM fields, going from making up just 8% of STEM workers in the U.S. in 1970 to 27% in 2019, the U.S. Census Bureau reports. However, such numbers conceal what was once a less pleasant reality surrounding the recognition of women in STEM, which can be illustrated through the narratives of two female pioneers in the field of physics: Lise Meitner, the 'Mother of the Atomic Bomb,' and Chinese American physicist Chien-Shiung Wu. It has been a historical recurrence throughout the sciences for men to take credit for discoveries made with or by their female counterparts, and the Nobel Prize is no exception. Meitner, the first woman to become a German physics professor, is in fact the unsung hero of the research that went into the discovery of nuclear fission — a process that would eventually aid in the creation of the atomic bomb. On a path to upend the principles of nuclear physics and chemistry and, indirectly, that of history, Meitner conducted 30 years of research with chemist Otto Hahn on radioactive substances. However, Hahn would go on to exclusively receive the 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his and Meitner’s shared work towards the proof of nuclear fission. Why is it that there exists a habit to gloss over or leave out the contributions of women who have worked alongside men in their scientific findings? Surely, in the name of objectivity and its impartial nature, science transcends these biases? History yet again points to a different answer. Wu, a revolutionary particle and experimental physicist, found herself in a similar situation as Meitner when she was overlooked for the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics. In her landmark 1956 experiment following her work on the Manhattan Project, Wu disproved the Parity Law, a widely accepted law of physics at the time. Though the American Association of Women press identified her experiment as the 'solution to the number-one riddle of atomic and nuclear physics,' the Nobel Prize was solely bestowed upon Wu’s coworkers, Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen Ning Yang, who were the ones to initially propose the theory that physics violated parity, but had no definite data to support it until Wu’s experimentation." #WomenInSTEM #GirlsInSTEM #STEMGems #GiveGirlsRoleModels https://lnkd.in/gPxhXR6T

Ready for some groundbreaking discoveries? This isn’t just science. It’s seismic. Some discoveries crack open the Earth. These exposed the forces inside it. Volcanoes, tectonic shifts, buried impact craters— They traced how our planet changes, and why. Their tools? Isotopes, satellites, and stubborn questions. This isn’t surface science. It goes deep. Meet 12 women who moved mountains—with data. 📌 Ida Noddack She asked: what if atoms can break apart? That idea explains Earth’s internal heat. And how we trace its age through decay. 📌 Marie-Anne Paulze Lavoisier She ran the lab that named Earth’s elements. Pioneered early mineral analysis and methods. Her work made chemistry map the planet. 📌 Julia Lermontova She decoded how minerals form and break down. Studied oil chemistry when few understood it. Her data powered early resource science. 📌 Alice Eastwood Saved geological collections in a quake’s ruins. Catalogued plant and rock records of the West. Worked in the field when women weren’t allowed in. 📌 Ellen Gleditsch Used radioactive decay to date the Earth. Helped prove our planet is billions of years old. Built Norway’s first radiochemistry lab. 📌 Adriana Ocampo Found the crater that ended the dinosaurs. Buried deep—until her maps revealed it. Led NASA research linking space and Earth. 📌 Aradhna Tripati Traces past climates using ancient isotopes. Her work sharpens our models of climate change. She builds labs—and access—for future scientists. 📌 Mariya Zuber Mapped the Moon’s gravity in fine detail. Her methods help us read Earth’s crust. She leads science from orbit to institution. 📌 Katharina Lodders Models how planets and meteorites are built. Her research decodes Earth’s elemental origins. It’s used from labs to launchpads. 📌 Darlene Lim Leads Earth-based missions to prepare for Mars. Studies extreme ecosystems to guide exploration. Brings field science to the future of space. 📌 Sian Proctor Geoscientist who trained in planetary volcanoes. Then flew to space—piloting a private mission. Her work spans lava flows to lift-off. 📌 Beatrix Potter Studied fossils and minerals before she wrote. Her illustrations taught geology before she was heard. Now her science is shelved in museums. They mapped the Earth—and modeled other planets too. Their data shaped how we build, adapt, and explore. 120 stories shared. 504 to come. If we terraform one day—will we credit the groundbreakers?

In the cold winter of 1967, deep in the English countryside, a young woman sat alone among cables and humming machines, her eyes fixed on squiggly lines of radio data. Her name was Jocelyn Bell, a 24-year-old doctoral student at Cambridge. For months, she had helped build a massive, homemade radio telescope, and now, she was sifting through miles of printouts, searching for distant quasars. But what she found was something entirely unexpected. A signal. Faint, rhythmic, and impossibly precise. It pulsed every 1.337 seconds—so steady it seemed almost artificial. For a moment, the team jokingly dubbed it LGM-1, for “Little Green Men,” thinking it might be a transmission from extraterrestrial life. But Jocelyn didn’t buy into the alien theory. She was convinced by science, not speculation. With tireless determination, she worked, ruling out interference, rechecking the data, and chasing the source. What she ultimately uncovered was extraordinary: a neutron star spinning rapidly, emitting radio waves like a lighthouse. It was the first pulsar—a discovery that would go on to be one of the most groundbreaking in astrophysics. However, when the 1974 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded, Jocelyn’s name was absent. The honor went to her male supervisor, Antony Hewish, and Martin Ryle. Jocelyn said little at the time, though later she remarked, “It would demean Nobel Prizes if they were awarded to research students.” But while the Nobel committee overlooked her contribution, history never did. Jocelyn Bell Burnell continued to shine as a guiding light in the scientific community—teaching, mentoring, and quietly changing the field of physics from within. In 2018, when she was awarded the $3 million Breakthrough Prize in Physics, she didn’t keep a penny. Instead, she donated the entire amount to support women, minorities, and refugees pursuing physics. Jocelyn once said, “You can be good, or you can be lucky. I was both.” But the truth is, she was not just lucky—she was brilliant, persistent, and brave enough to listen when the universe whispered. #WomenInSTEM #JocelynBellBurnell ~Forgotten Stories

AI systems built without women's voices miss half the world and actively distort reality for everyone. On International Women's Day - and every day - this truth demands our attention. After more than two decades working at the intersection of technological innovation and human rights, I've observed a consistent pattern: systems designed without inclusive input inevitably encode the inequalities of the world we have today, incorporating biases in data, algorithms, and even policy. Building technology that works requires our shared participation as the foundation of effective innovation. The data is sobering: women represent only 30% of the AI workforce and a mere 12% of AI research and development positions according to UNESCO's Gender and AI Outlook. This absence shapes the technology itself. And a UNESCO study on Large Language Models (LLMs) found persistent gender biases - where female names were disproportionately linked to domestic roles, while male names were associated with leadership and executive careers. UNESCO's @women4EthicalAI initiative, led by the visionary and inspiring Gabriela Ramos and Dr. Alessandra Sala, is fighting this pattern by developing frameworks for non-discriminatory AI and pushing for gender equity in technology leadership. Their work extends the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of AI, a powerful global standard centering human rights in AI governance. Today's decision is whether AI will transform our world into one that replicates today's inequities or helps us build something better. Examine your AI teams and processes today. Where are the gaps in representation affecting your outcomes? Document these blind spots, set measurable inclusion targets, and build accountability systems that outlast good intentions. The technology we create reflects who creates it - and gives us a path to a better world. #InternationalWomensDay #AI #GenderBias #EthicalAI #WomenInAI #UNESCO #ArtificialIntelligence The Patrick J. McGovern Foundation Mariagrazia Squicciarini Miriam Vogel Vivian Schiller Karen Gill Mary Rodriguez, MBA Erika Quada Mathilde Barge Gwen Hotaling Yolanda Botti-Lodovico

𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘯-𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥? Yes. Without thinking twice, yes! The world was not designed for women. Not in the cars we drive. Not in the phones we hold. Not even in the way we plan cities. For decades, the gold-standard crash-test dummy was modelled on a 5′9″, 171-lb male body. The global average woman, at about 5′3″ and 137 lb, is far smaller - yet safety tests still rely on male defaults, putting women at greater risk in real-world crashes. This means that:  1. Women are 17% more likely to die and  2. 47% more likely to be seriously injured in a crash     All because the ergonomics weren’t designed with them in mind. Also, as per the WEF report, it’s shocking but only 5% of R&D funding in the healthcare sector is spent on women’s health needs globally, despite women making up 50% of the population. From medicines to AI, a lot of products and services were tested and trained on males.  It’s a pattern in how the world is built. Male is the default. Products, systems, and policies that are less safe, less effective, and less accessible for women. In India, women didn’t have equal property rights until the Hindu Succession Act of 1956, and it was only in 2005 that daughters were given equal inheritance rights as sons.   Globally, women are expected to control $5 trillion in assets in the near future. For the first time in history, women are becoming primary decision-makers for major financial choices. And yet, most products and services still treat women as an afterthought. Women influence over 80% of global consumer spending, yet while they’ve been relentlessly marketed to, they’ve rarely been truly designed for. Femtech is often misunderstood as “women-only” products. But in reality, it’s about intentional design for women’s needs, whether that’s a wealth management app tailored for first-time female investors, healthcare platforms reimagining maternal care, or everyday products built for different body types and lifestyles. This harsh reality points to a larger opportunity: • Move beyond token pink packaging and actually solve for women’s lived realities. • Build personalised, curated experiences that reflect women’s independence and decision-making power. • Rethink how we design, from finance to transport to healthcare.    As Caroline Criado Perez wrote in the book Invisible Women: “When we exclude half of humanity from the design process, we also lose half of the potential solutions.” The question lingers: Will the next decade of innovation still make women adapt to the world, or will we finally design a world that adapts to women? Video Source: World Economic Forum #Innovation #Startup #Women 

On this International Day of Women and Girls in Science, I reflect on my own journey in STEM. Growing up, I found myself among the few girls not just passionate about science but actively diving into its depths. Back then, role models and mentors for aspiring women scientists were scarce, making the path seem lonelier than it needed to be. Fast forward to today, and the landscape has transformed significantly. There's an abundance of inspirational women in tech across India, shattering glass ceilings and redefining what's possible. From the stellar contributions of Gagandeep Kang in biomedical research to Tessy Thomas' groundbreaking work in space research, and the tech prowess of Debjani Ghosh in shaping the future of IT, young girls today have no shortage of role models. Women are making remarkable strides in every facet of STEM, from spearheading space missions to revolutionizing software coding. Despite these incredible advances, our journey towards complete equity in STEM is far from over. The gap, although narrowing, persists. It's imperative that we continue our efforts to support and empower girls to pursue their STEM dreams. This means providing them with access to education, mentorship opportunities, and fostering environments that celebrate and encourage their achievements. Let's use today not just to celebrate the progress made but to renew our commitment to bridging the remaining gaps. By supporting the aspirations of girls in STEM, we're not just investing in their futures, but in the advancement of science and technology for all. Together, we can ensure that every girl who dreams of a career in STEM has the opportunity, support, and role models to make it a reality. #womeninstem #womeninscience

Innovation knows no gender. Reflecting on my journey as an engineer over the past 25 years, from stepping into the workforce to witnessing the remarkable strides women have made today, I am struck by both the progress achieved and the many challenges that persist. When I started my career in the late 90s, women engineers were a handful and today, I'm heartened to see more women not only entering the field but also pioneering innovations and driving meaningful change. ➡️ However, looking at the numbers, in 2023, men outnumbered women in global engineering by 86.3% to 13.7%. And despite the demand for tech skills, women constitute only 28% of engineering graduates globally. In STEM fields, they make up 33% of researchers but hold just 12% of national science academy memberships. ➡️The leaky STEM pipeline begins early and persists over time. It is not just enough to keep feeding the pipeline by increasing the number of female students. It is imperative to work towards breaking gender stereotypes through early investment in reskilling and the promotion of STEM education. Apart from making STEM education more fun and engaging, introduction to female role models and mentors can help change stereotypical perceptions related to these subjects and inspire more girls to choose and work in the area. ➡️I see technology as an enabler here. Achieving equal representation of women in the tech industry requires a collaborative effort from organisations, academia, and government bodies. At the organisational level, tech firms should focus on creating supportive structures that not only attract but also retain and nurture female professionals. Flexible working policies, improved leave and well-being benefits, and support networks serve as key factors in promoting women in the workplace. Investing in training and mentorship programs is essential to equip high-potential women technologists with the necessary skills for leadership roles. Initiatives like involving female employees in the recruitment process, hosting career fairs, and offering internship programs can help organisations move towards a more gender-balanced workforce. The future of engineering is bright, and women are an integral part of that future. By continuing to support and celebrate women in engineering, we are investing in a world where innovation knows no gender, and where the contributions of all are valued and recognized. #InternationalWomenInEngineeringDay 🎉✨