A new video reminds viewers of the obstacles women historically have faced in seeking educational opportunities and careers in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields.
Titled “Women Make Us Better,” the video features several female engineers at Boeing reading aloud letters from American universities received in 1919 by the founders of the Society of Women Engineers. The negative attitudes of the time are clear in the responses and were shocking to read aloud, according to several participants.
The video debut coincides with International Women in Engineering Day, a worldwide awareness campaign to raise the profile of women in engineering and focus attention on the career opportunities in the industry now available to females.
“With this video, we wanted to show our support for International Women in Engineering Day while paying tribute to the part women have played and play at Boeing,” said Anne Toulouse, vice president of Global Brand Management. “I have a sister, friends and colleagues who are female engineers, so this effort means a lot to me.”
Women have performed an important role in Boeing’s history, beginning in 1916 when seamstress Rosie Farrar was hired by William Boeing to stitch together linen wings for the early B&W seaplanes. Since then, Boeing has worked to diversify its workforce and is committed to making continuing inroads in this space, company officials said.
“Through a companywide commitment to programs aimed at attracting and retaining female talent, Boeing is taking steps to address the current talent gap,” said Michael Ford, vice president of Global Talent, Diversity & Inclusion. “With the full support of Boeing senior executives, a number of initiatives have been implemented to empower women in the Boeing workforce, including Empowering Women forums, unconscious bias training, alignment of the women’s business resource groups and this year’s inaugural Global Women’s Leadership Conference.”
Boeing also is increasing the focus on and number of community investments designed to educate and inspire the next generation of women scientists and engineers.
“Over the past five years, Boeing and the Boeing Charitable Trust have contributed more than $85 million towards community initiatives that have inspired an estimated 3.6 million young women in STEM globally,” said John Blazey, vice president of Global Corporate Citizenship.
People are encouraged to share this video with friends and family with the following hashtags: #WomenMakeUsBetter and #BoeingInspires.
By Jason Capeheart