Have you experienced any inequality because of your gender?

Yes, I’ve experienced and witnessed it. You will experience it as well. It’s important to put it into perspective and recognize it is not limited to this field. Every human has experienced inequities related to our gender, regardless of our gender. My best advice is to handle situations with grace and knowledge. Responding with anger will not accomplish anything. Know your worth and own it. Respond with grace and fact, and then let it go. You cannot change other people’s actions or ignorance, but you can change how you react and how you let it affect you. Do not give someone else the power to ruin your attitude or day.

I have experienced inequality because of being a woman in STEM many times in my career. I decided early on, the best I could do was to do a great job learning and show that I could do a great job. I have received many awards and achievements from this hard work and success. However, I have learned I can only do so much to influence personal biases. So, I continue to "knock it out of the park" and have discussions with men in STEM and bring the inequity up for all to hear, and for me to hear their thoughts. I have learned that men first have to understand what it is like from a woman's perspective, and try to make them care and that it indeed matters. Unfortunately, it is a slow process, and many generations will have to live with it.

While it is real, there are plenty of great people in STEM that do view and judge engineers for what they are capable of performing, regardless of gender. It is a rewarding field to work in, and where I am naturally drawn, so I will not allow others to keep me from being who I am. It is important to go in with open eyes and keep doing a great job and don't be afraid to speak up, even if it makes you and others uncomfortable. It is more uncomfortable to be treated as an outsider or not valued.

Hi, to be honest early in my career I did face negative comments about my gender when working in a field-based position. Basically, that I didn't know anything and was "just a girl". I was fortunate to have a very supportive male supervisor who advocated for me. By working hard and proving to the naysayers that I could do the work successfully I was able to combat their stereotypes and gain their respect. It shouldn't be this way but unfortunately it does still exist. Now that I am more experienced, if I see behavior like that, I call it out. I want to be an upstander and not a bystander.

Yes, I've experienced inequality because of my gender several times, unfortunately. To manage through the inequality I joined a non-profit organization which focuses on the empowerment and advocacy of women and allies within my industry. Through this non-profit, Women in Mining USA, we work to provide members with tools, resources, and a social network to handle some of the inequalities. One example is promoting active bystander training meaning when we see something that is wrong, such as inequality, we speak up about the matter. It helps to have allies and friends around you that are invested in your success and are willing to be supportive when going through scenarios dealing with inequality.

I began my engineering education and career in 1978, so the simple answer is yes. It began in college but only in 1 course which was a terrible experience for me and the subject was difficult on top of that. I was too young to realize that I should have reported it, but rather I learned a ton from it. My resilience and confidence was actually improved as I got through this class (barely) and moved on.

Then, as I started my career, I did hear some very typical things about no longer working once I was married and had my first child. This was an assumption by my colleagues, and you can imagine their surprise when I told them that I had no intention to stop working and my spouse and I had daycare all figured out.

Once my colleagues stopped seeing me as someone different, but someone smart and talented, the game changed a lot. I still met some doubters from time to time, but they became few and far between. Some comments were made that probably were inappropriate due to the times, but I made a deliberate choice to ignore some and to not ignore some. If I became upset every time, I would have had a huge chip on my shoulder and probably would have left my career. Instead, I persisted and became the 1st female President of Engineering and Quality for a large automotive company.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg often talked about being persistent and true to yourself - words I always live by!