Today we celebrate women in engineering. Some might take time to look into achievements of our pioneers such as Ada Lovelace ‘the first programmer’ born in 1815. As for me, I am a bit saddened to see, in my ‘country of origin’, France, that the % of girls joining engineering schools is hardly increasing, if not decreasing in some areas. My own experience as engineer is one of many opportunities; for each of them I had the impression it was a privilege to contribute to major endeavours, either in telecommunication or in aerospace : - develop a secure banking system in Switzerland, with the aim to avoid systemic collapse - set up a secure communications network for the Police in Belgium, launched after the Heysel football stadium drama - support our helicopters Emergency Medical Services Customers throughout the world - support our Air Forces in their critical missions. I am immensely grateful to Airbus for having given me so many choices in the last 21 years, and for all efforts done, sincerely, for diversity. I also feel lucky to have outstanding ladies by my side, Maria Angeles Marti Martinez Koro Arraiza Ana Maria Martin Gutierrez Paloma Peinado Maria Escribano Febrel Maria Garcia Nuria Vaquero Ana Pereira Brun , just to name a few, what a ride together ! Our society is facing immense challenges, my personal take when facing complexity is that first must come humility, and, right after, diversity. I really encourage young girls to have a harder look into all this when making study and carrer decisions, we need you ! #INWED International Women in Engineering Day #WomeninDefence Airbus Defence and Space
Thank you, Géraldine, for this truly inspiring post. It's vital to celebrate Women in Engineering, especially as we continue to encourage young girls to pursue this exceptional educational path . As a mum of two young girls, I will personally face this challenge as well. Having said that , many of my colleagues and I come from different educational backround, but together, our diverse skills make a meaningful impact for our industry.
Happy Day! Very inspirational! To me, hope is something we can achieve. How? Easy, right now my son and daughter are each starting their professional careers. And the wonderful thing is that both of them have had unconditional support in their choices. It doesn’t matter who is older or younger or who is a boy or a girl…
Félicitations à toi aussi Géraldine Thiercelin !!!!! Definitely being engineer bring us a lot of opportunities to contribute to society and grow personal and proffesional. Many thanks for your words and hope that every year we are more wome engineers celebrating this special day
Great reference, better profesional and person! Thanks Geraldine for your inspiration. Sure still a lot to do to revert the current trend in STEM careers and get more feminine talent in them! And this starts at home and in the schools, where children need to learn how to love maths, physics, design,...a global goal where we all play a role!
Thank you for sharing Géraldine! We are so proud. 👏
💯 agreed Géraldine! Our wealth, but also our need for the sustainable transformation is majorly based on the development of innovative technical products. Hence, we need a diverse crowd of engineers to achieve this goal. Proud to be one of them.
Inspiring for all of us...
Great post Geraldine. My daughter is inspired by women such as yourself!
Engagée pour une transition respectueuse des hommes et de l'environnement
5moVibrant message d’autant plus essentiel en France actuellement où la réforme du bac est contre productive pour encourager les jeunes lycéennes à choisir les voies scientifiques.