#Thread of responses from women in aerodynamics to the question, 'what would you like to see in order for women's career progression in your field to be sustained and better supported?'

Responses incl. career flexibility, mentoring and more women in leadership roles #WomeninSTEM

1. "I think young female engineers need to see more female role models and mentors in my field. Having a visible example of someone that looks like you and is succeeding in their field is important. Having an opportunity to meet with a mentor like that can be very powerful."

2. "I would like to see that any career promotion is based on own merits and value added to the company or the society independently of the gender. I want that women are measured with the same rules as men and are given equal opportunities."

3. "I have experienced first-hand the inspiring and positive impact of leaders who truly value a diverse and inclusive environment. We need more leaders like this!"

4. "As an early-career individual, it’s nice to see examples of women engineers in positions that I would like to be in eventually. Making the accomplishments of women in the field more visible may encourage new engineers."

5. "I believe the way we evaluate success in academia is based on a model of a full-time (often over-time) academic – the number of successful grants, publications, and achievements directly correlate with perceived “success.” Anyone who takes maternity leave, for example, is...

6. ...immediately behind in the numbers game. Academia needs to take a critical look at how we measure a successful scientist."

7. "Pay equality, improved job security and more support for women who have caring responsibilities, especially at the early stages of their careers."

8. "The depressing thing is that we need more male champions of change. Women have understood the inequities that they face for a long time. What we need now is for everyone to acknowledge those inequities, so that people can work together to address them, whatever they may be,..

9. ...in the most appropriate way."

10. "Flexibility (especially of bigger companies) when it comes to career path options and more support to reconcile family and career."

11. "More opportunities for women to take part in female only Design and Build competitions at high school. These events could be complemented with guest lectures from motivating and engaging females involved in Engineering. This would give young women an opportunity to develop..

12. ...a passion for Engineering and allow them to have more hands-on experience, without being dominated by males."

13. "We all - men and women - need to band together to condemn specific instances of bias and discrimination whenever we observe them. Until it is clear that this behavior will not be tolerated, it will continue to flourish. If an engineer or scientist has a clear history of...

14. ...bias or discrimination, organizations should not reward their technical success, as it sends a clear signal that their behavior towards others is not important."

15. "I think it’s very inspiring when there are women at the more senior levels of engineering management or leadership. It sends the right message across the industry and will help narrow the gender gap."

16. "Women in tech are rare. Women as entrepreneurs in tech are almost not existent. Therefore there is a lot ground to cover. We have to improve the technical education especially for girls so that we have a bigger pool of tech women!"

17. "Nothing radical – a bit more flexibility with hours and home-working benefits men and women and is becoming a feature of the changing work place in most fields. I also think that support networks and mentoring play an important role, especially early on in someone’s career."

18. "I think women who work in technical roles in motorsport need to be given more space in the media, because unfortunately it is still considered an exception for a woman to be an F1 aerodynamicist (to be fair, I am the only one in my team). I feel some girls might not even...

19. ...consider this as a possible career path, possibly because they have never seen a woman covering this role."

20. "Real men support women. We should target to create a surrounding at work, which men would like to see for their daughters. We would have to deal less with stereotypes and bias and we would have more support."

21. "I don’t want to receive better treatment just for being a woman. I just want to have the same opportunities a male colleague has. I want to be judged on my own merits and not because I’m a woman."

22. "I think women just need to see more examples of women in engineering and science being successful. Once they see others doing it and the successes they achieve and the contributions they have made, that will inspire more women to follow in those paths."

23. "More women in higher positions, who offer support and encouragement."

24. "Mentoring schemes for women who are at the start of their careers, especially in academia where the transition from post-doc to permanent faculty is uncertain and opaque."

25. "It is especially difficult to balance your career while starting a family, and taking a career break is near impossible for women in postdoctoral research contacts with no job security. I would like to see better provisions for taking a career break and normalising this...

26. ...by providing the same opportunities for men as well."

27. "Women have a tendency to be conservative with their knowledge, only taking on new jobs and opportunities when they are sure they won’t fail, whereas men will ‘fake it until they make it’ if they don’t know something or have never done a job before. I would love to offer...

28. ...women a safe place where they can grow their knowledge and ask the ‘stupid’ questions so they can become confident leaders and participants in STEM fields. The biggest thing holding women back is their own lack of confidence, and if we can do something to build that...

29. ...self-confidence, I think they will stick with STEM fields significantly more because they believe they can do it. I would love to see the experienced women in my workplace hold regular meetings and tutoring sessions for less experienced women to learn and grow together,...

30. ...without fear of judgement from their male counterparts."

31. "I believe strong, successful women in the field should mentor their younger counterparts in all aspects of the job. We should take them under our wings and earn their trust to talk through the emotionally challenging aspects of the job in addition to the technical aspects...

32. ...Providing that support may help some find their footing and confidence where it may have been wavering. That being said, men can play this role, too. I had a male mentor do this for me early in my career and I am forever grateful for his support."

33. "There should be fellowships at different stages of the studies for women students all around the world. I really appreciate Zonta International specifically for the fellowships that they give to girls all around the world studying about Aerospace subjects in their Ph.D...

34. ...thesis. I am very proud to be an Amelia Earhart Fellow."

35. "I guess I was lucky, as I never felt discriminated. Of course I had to deal with the odd joke or comment, sometimes with what I felt was unjustified skepticism, but overall nothing serious. I am painfully aware of how this is not always the standard, and far too often...

36. ...hear of women feeling they are put in a corner once they decide pursuing their professional aspirations whilst being mothers. I feel responsible to shake the system in this sense, ensuring the rules of the game are changed and that biases - subconscious or not - are...

37. ...openly addressed and tackled."

38. "I think this needs to be approached from two sides. First, young women and girls need to be encouraged to dig in the dirt, play with model plane, learn about cars, and all the other things that are often considered "boy things". Not that they should be forced to do...

39. ...things, but they should have just as much encouragement to do these things as to play with dolls, wear dresses, and do other such "girl things". They also need to be reminded that you don't need to be amazing at everything you do to be good at your job. Second, people...

40. ...in positions of power (teachers, employers, counsellors, etc.) need to make an effort to be more open to people of any gender without typical engineering hobbies and skills. They need to work to value what their candidates can learn and the attributes they can bring to...

41. ...the position at least as much as their past experience."

42. "Throughout my career I always sought out experts for technical mentoring. I typically did this on the fly and informally. I wished I would have developed a more formal career mentor as an impartial sounding board, either to get advice about key career decisions or to help...

43. ...navigate tough personal issues. I believe more formalized mentoring could be a good way to sustain and better support women throughout their careers and at all leadership levels."

44. "One thing that I think some universities are doing very well to help retain women in aeronautics is to support dual career couples. Many women in academia have partners who are also career-driven, and some women may put their career on the back burner if they can't get a...

45. ...job in the same location as their spouse. Having strong programs to enable women's partners to follow them and find a good job nearby is extremely helpful to recruit and retain women. I think it's also important to continue the discussion of the disparities between the...

46. ...genders in aeronautics so that we can continue improving self-awareness. We all have biases coming from our upbringing. Just like accepting and acknowledging failure is necessary before we can improve an experiment, acknowledging that we currently have biases as a...

47. ...community is necessary in order to improve and change."

48. "I think a lot of things are already done, by encouraging companies to consider female applicants for the same positions as male ones. It is also encouraged to take into account the dual role that many women have in life. I think at the moment what we need is to encourage...

49. ...people to think of engineering as a no gender domain. What I have discovered for myself is that sometimes men will tend to go into details and somewhat deep mathematical analysis while talking – refer to formulas and mathematical relations and because my brain doesn’t...

50. ...follow this pattern I have sometimes felt as if I don’t belong because I can’t talk in the same ‘language’. But when I take my time to read and write on an aerospace related subject (maths and all) I realise I can do it as well as anybody else. I’m just not good at...

51. ...talking it out in a free discussion unless I was aware of the subject previous to discussing it. So raising awareness about the different way in which we think is important. We need both men and women in this field, because we look at problems differently and in order...

52. ...to successfully solve a problem in an optimized way you need to look at it from different perspectives."

53. "I would like to see more females leaders sitting in the meeting rooms, and being role models and mentors to those pursuing career in aerospace engineering. Women should be provided opportunities to test their technical skills, and build confidence to grow to leadership...

54. ...positions. Companies should also build conducive work environment in which women engineers feel empowered and comfortable voicing their opinion. Other factors that can help support demanding career for women are flexible working hours and maternity related benefits...

55. ...such that women do not have to choose between family and work at critical points in their life. Last but not least, support from family including equal sharing of house and family responsibilities by both partners is critical for women’s career progression."

56. "We sometimes describe the path of women in technical fields as a leaky pipe. At each transition – secondary school to university, bachelor’s to Ph.D., Ph.D to industry or academia – there are women, who, for whatever reason, do not continue into the expected next stage...

57. ...If we want to increase the number of women in these subjects, we have to consider each of these failure points and what can be done to help women carry on to the next stage. For girls, that may be programs to help spark and maintain an early interest in science and...

58. ...engineering. At the university-level, it could mean providing more targeted professional development seminars, helping women learn skills like salary negotiation. And, in the realms of industry and academia, it means considering alternatives to the traditional paths for...

59. ...promotion, which often discriminate against women who start families. Society as a whole benefits from diversity in our workforce, which leads to diverse ideas and innovative solutions to problems. Helping women and other underrepresented minorities succeed builds a...

60. ...better future for everyone."

61. "I want everyone to see diversity in aerospace engineering as a good thing, and something we can all encourage. This includes the “majority” that remains unaffected or apathetic because it’s “not their problem”. The reality is that there are very few minorities in...

62. ...leadership roles, so those that are currently in these positions need to make a conscious effort to make their environments more inclusive, by addressing bullying, sexual harassment, unconscious bias, shared parental leave, homogenous panels at conferences and many...

63. ...other factors. I am tired of senior engineers citing the lack of women applying as an excuse to continue upholding the status quo, when there is a lot of research to show there are systemic barriers that hinder career progression of minorities. These barriers need to...

64. ...be lifted before we can see a real improvement, not just in the numbers of women/minorities in the field, but also in the diversity of the engineering solutions from the aerospace sector."

65. "Even if it's humiliating for women, I think quota is unfortunately the only way to break the glass ceiling and access to decision-making responsibility (full professor) that some men want to keep out of women's reach. The vimeo.com/191134397 video is unjust but so true."

66. "There are already some really good moves in the right direction for this e.g. the Aurora Leadership Program (lfhe.ac.uk/en/programmes-…) which has been running since 2013 but there is a still a lot of work to be done. The progression of female academics in HE from Grade 8/...

67. ...Senior Lecturer level and above is poor, particularly in STEM subjects. I think a shift in the drivers and motivators for 'career success' to value those on the non-linear career pathway is vital."