IPC International Community magazine an association member publication
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IPC COMMUNITY 82 SUMMER 2024 I n celebration of International Women in Engineering Day (INWED), on June 24 IPC gathered women from eight countries for a virtual panel to share their inspiring engi- neering journeys. More than 100 participants joined the online meeting to connect with these trailblazing women, learn from their experiences, and receive valuable advice on how to chart their own path to success. "I've been doing advocacy and mentoring for women for a few years now (as a hobby, not a profession), and I'd like to share something I've noticed that often goes overlooked," says panelist Susan Kayesar, a product manager for PCBflow at Siemens Digital Industries Software. "Many (very) successful women who appear in women's advocacy panels have been successful precisely because they are able to simply ignore what others see as gender-related challenges. I am repeatedly impressed to hear that they have never felt discrimination and successfully nav- igated situations where others would have fro- zen, felt demeaned, unsupported, blocked, or even threatened." Unfortunately, she continues, this is often not helpful to the surprisingly large number of women who have not yet overcome the hurdles that do exist, especially some that are not as eas- ily recognized. "I firmly believe that we need to recognize gender-based differences in the use of language, symbols of hierarchy and power, learn- ing styles, social situations, and even attire (I'm looking at you, branded golf shirt)," Susan says. "These are among the issues that we need to rec- ognize and address head-on rather than gloss over if we want to have equal representation in this and all industries." Also carefully not addressed, she says, "is the inherent binarity of 'Women in X-industry Day.' In my own private world, I wonder when we will reach a point where we can change the title to 'Gender-equivalence in X-industry Day.'" EVENTS Bold Break- throughs Susan Kayesar of Siemens on reshaping the electrical engineering landscape By Sandy Gentry Contributing Editor, IPC Community