What is Women in Engineering Day?
International Women in Engineering Day is a holiday to celebrate the outstanding accomplishments of women in the engineering field. We celebrate this holiday annually on June 23.
Women in Engineering Day began in the U.K., but over time, countries around the globe have joined the celebration.
Recognizing women in this field is vital because it illuminates their achievements and promotes equality within the industry. It also demonstrates to young women that this career path is possible for them. Someone in high school or college with a passion for engineering is much more likely to pursue it as a career seeing someone from the same culture, background, or gender succeed in the field.
Women’s representation in the U.S. engineering workforce is steadily increasing, reaching 16.1% in 2022—up from 13.7% in 2012 and 5% in 1980. While those numbers are promising, there’s still a way to go in closing the gap between the percentage of women and men in engineering. Still, the steady progress shows us that the initiatives companies are taking have made an impact.
Women in Engineering and Computer and Information Science Awards
Where will the next generation of women in engineering come from? It starts with programs like the Women in Engineering and Computer and Information Science Awards.
This program helps make female college students’ dreams of entering the engineering or computer science field possible. Recipients of this award receive funding for their college education as long as they’re pursuing a math, science, engineering, or computer science major. Students must maintain a GPA of 3.0 or higher in the previous academic year and show strong leadership skills to qualify.
Speaking with the women of Intuit
One of the most impactful things we can do to celebrate and put some power behind International Women in Engineering Day is to shed light on positive, inspiring success stories. Some of the women of Intuit were nice enough to give us their time and share these powerful women in engineering quotes with us.
Kayla Nussbaum, senior product manager at Intuit
For Senior Product Manager Kayla Nussbaum, a childhood love for customizing technology—from a MySpace layout to her mother’s flip phone—led to a love of expressing herself through code to solve customer problems here at Intuit. As early as high school, she was inspired to break the glass ceiling and overturn the gender norms of the traditional computer science field.
“It has been a challenge to pursue a male-dominated career as my own, but that idea in itself helped inspire me to push to be 110 percent of what I thought I could be. And the pace of gender bias is changing. I feel like my ideas and thoughts are valued in my job day-to-day, which has been great to see compared to what it was like in college. The industry is continuously growing with female representation, and I’m truly looking forward to the day where we don’t have this as a concern anymore.”
– Kayla Nussbaum, Senior Product Manager, Intuit
Upon joining Intuit, she was surprised to discover just how much influence she could have as an individual contributor. In her role as a front-end engineer on the Development Experience (DevX) team, she’s inspired to work alongside her teammates to get awesome new features into the hands of customers faster by accelerating developer velocity on the Intuit platform. “People don’t realize that software engineering is so creative,” she says.
For the full interview with Nussbaum, go here: International Women in Engineering Day Celebration.
Lucy Shen, technology evangelist at Intuit
Intuit Tech Evangelist Lucy Shen concentrates her efforts on building a more inclusive industry. As co-chair of the Pride Employee Network in the Mountain View campus and a supporter of other female technologists her focus is on intersectionality. “We have lots of other parts of our identities that are just as relevant to our experiences and actually cast a wider net and allow us to connect across lots of different boundaries with people of other identities as well,” she says.
“One of my favorite things about working here, if you’ll allow me a moment to shill our company, is the people and the culture. I found myself volunteering here with our Intuit Pride Network whenever I could. It’s about creating a sense of community in your workspace, so that your coworkers are not just your coworkers, and you have a sense of belonging in your company. I wanted a chance to give back to this community and see how my actions can directly impact and improve the situation around me.”
– Lucy Shen, Technology Evangelist, Intuit
Kylie Taitano, software engineer at Intuit
Intuit Software Engineer Kylie Taitano leverages her work as the founder of Code With Her, a nonprofit dedicated to closing the gender and equality gap in tech to honor and improve life and work for women in engineering. Taitano seeks to create an ecosystem where students can thrive and have fun learning about tech while feeling supported in their journey. “For us, that ecosystem means family, friends, parents, grandparents, and teachers in the education system, as well as the industry folks we bring into students’ lives as mentors.”
“We all bring something to the table, right? I’d like to see a trust that women or those who identify with underrepresented minority groups are still committed members of the team while taking on responsibilities outside of work, whether that’s through starting a family or working in organizing spaces. Because if we truly believe in bringing our whole selves to work, these experiences that we have, through the work that we do outside of work, make us better engineers and teammates.”
– Kylie Taitano, Software Engineer, Intuit
For the full interview with Shen and Taitano, listen here: Bringing Your Whole Self to Work.
How can we encourage more women to pursue engineering?
Like Kylie Taitano said, “We all bring something to the table.” Any young woman who wants to pursue an engineering career should have the inspiration and resources to do so.
Our future engineers need positive encouragement and inclusiveness. Each young woman pursuing a career in this field needs to see someone just like them who’s already made it happen. Kylie, Lucy, and Kayla are great ambassadors to set women in engineering on the right path. They’re a testament to what the perseverance to overcome a male-dominated industry and embrace an inclusive culture can do for young women as they grow through their careers.
Intuit women in engineering: Shaping the world they want to see
In honor of International Women in Engineering Day, you can catch the entire journey of these Intuit software engineers on the Intuit Tech Heroes Podcasts. Listen in as we celebrate their careers and commend them for doing their part to #shapetheworld they want to see for themselves and future generations of women in tech.
When you’re done, come see what else Intuit is doing to ensure women in engineering are getting the recognition and support they deserve.
FAQs
1. What is Women in Engineering Day?
Women in Engineering Day is an international holiday to celebrate and honor women in the engineering, math, science, or computer science fields. Women engineers around the globe celebrate this holiday annually on June 23.
2. What are the Women in Engineering and Computer and Information Science Awards?
The Women in Engineering and Computer and Information Science Awards is a scholarship program funding female college students. Any young woman attending college in a math, science, engineering, or computer science concentration is welcome to apply. Applicants must have a GPA of 3.0 or higher in the previous academic year and display strong leadership skills to qualify.
3. How has the Women’s Engineering Society impacted the field?
The Women’s Engineering Society (WES) is a professional networking and charitable organization that has been shaping women’s trajectory in the engineering industry since the turn of the 20th century. The WES began in the U.K. and founded International Women in Engineering Day.
4. Who are some influential women in the history of engineering?
Some influential women from engineering history are:
- Emily Roebling – An engineer in New York at the turn of the 20th century, Roebling was instrumental in helping complete the Brooklyn Bridge.
- Lillian Gilbreth – Both an industrial engineer and psychologist, Gilbreth is best known for her research on what drives human efficiency in the workplace.
- Hedy Lamarr – An actress and inventor, Lamarr made significant contributions to the wireless communications industry. She also invented a radio-hopping spectrum system used to prevent enemies in World War II from jamming the signals of radio-controlled torpedoes.
5. How can we encourage more women to pursue careers in engineering?
In addition to sharing the stories of successful women in engineering, young women need early exposure to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers. Support organizations like the Girl Scouts of America that expose these girls to STEM experiential learning activities. Look for additional education and mentorship opportunities that will give girls hands-on experience and expose them to what’s possible with a career in STEM.