The woman in engineering

June 23 is International Women’s Day in Engineering, a global outreach event to highlight the role of women in a traditionally male-dominated sector.

International Women’s Day in Engineering is an international awareness campaign to raise the profile of women in engineering and focus on the career opportunities available to girls in this exciting industry. Since 2014, the Wonen's Engineering Society has celebrated it for the first time with the aim of commemorating women for their role in a sector that has traditionally been dominated by men.

How many engineers are famous? Names like Leonardo Da Vinci, Alfred Nobel, Thomas Edison or Nikola Tesla are well known. And how many engineers are famous? Women engineers are the big unknowns. Two examples of the importance of women in engineering: Behind the COBOL computer programming language is engineer Grace Murray Hopper. At NASA, engineers such as Judith Resnik stood out. Other women, such as Valentina Tereshkova, a Russian cosmonaut, Pilar Careaga Basabe, the first woman to graduate in engineering in Spain, Emily Roebling, the first female field engineer and technical leader of the Brooklyn Bridge, and Margaret Hamilton, a pioneer in the world of computer science, they are just a small sample. However, the reality is that, today, technical careers generate low interest in the women's sector.

Although the majority of university students are women (54%), in Engineering and Architecture we find only 25%, and the percentage falls to 12% in careers such as Computer Engineering. " Women and Engineering " has the mission to change this situation in different ways: from actions to awaken vocations among girls and adolescents in STEM areas (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) to make visible women engineers encouraging them to take on positions of responsibility and become technology leaders .

The science of engineering has been responsible for a huge development in the way we live today. The leaps and bounds in the field of engineering have given us the benefit of living easier lives, living in better homes, and using the best means of transportation. These are some of the examples of developments achieved by engineering.

From Enginyers Tarragona we want to highlight the work of women engineers and that is why we will be interviewing the members of our Board.