INWED 2024: International Women in Engineering Day

23 June marks International Women in Engineering Day (INWED), which recognises the incredible contribution of women engineers to the profession and encourages more girls to pursue careers in engineering.

We introduce Roberta, one of our Project Leader and first hired female engineer. We talked about her career path and what advice she would give to those starting out.

This year's theme is #Enhancedbyengineering. How have engineering studies shaped your professional career?

Engineering studies have definitely strengthened the way I approach a technical work environment. The beauty of studying engineering lies in the fact that you are not bound from the outset to a type of work environment but can choose it as you get to know them (and get to know yourself better!) through internships or the synergies that the university has with companies. I firmly believe that anyone who chooses to study engineering is by personal nature inclined to create, build, design and solve highly complex problems, no matter what kind of working environment they will be working in.

Do you mentor or have you ever mentored others and, if so, what advice would you give to women who want to become engineers?

I mentored a student on his path to prepare for his thesis. Certainly the perspectives and problems as a student are very different from those in the working environment. The responsibilities also change. Along the way, it was nice to relive the emotions and anxieties of student life from a different perspective.

In your experience, what can a company do to attract and retain female talent?

In my opinion, it is crucial that the company recognises the person in its employees. A person who has responsibilities within the team but also outside the work environment. This can then be reflected in corporate welfare actions, with services offered to employees and their families, or even just in accepting a last-minute notice of absence when you wake up on Monday morning and your child has fever. I never felt judged by my manager and the company in general, not even when, for example, I told them I was pregnant less than a year after I was hired at Enerblue. Here it is not uncommon to see managers taking time off work in the middle of the day to go to their children's dance recital or school party.

Are there strategies that can help a woman achieve a more prominent role in a male-dominated environment?

Standing up for yourself. We are women so by nature we are used to protecting our territory. If we set ourselves a goal we are able to fight tooth and nail to bring home the victory.

Do you think there are any barriers for women seeking a career in engineering?

The only barriers I would like to highlight are the prejudices that continue to dominate in this world and the numbers prove it. Although the trend is growing in Italy only 16% of women have a diploma/degree in STEM disciplines, compared to around 35% among men.

What message do you want to send to girls who are approaching this path?

The message I want to give to girls who want to become engineers is to always believe in it. To any problem, be it easy or difficult, we can find a solution. Even when it comes to meeting a tight deadline for a project while successfully managing to get their children into a new school.