Qwilt Celebrates International Women in Engineering Day 2023

Qwilt believes in the power of diversity and inclusivity – it’s at the heart of everything we do. That’s why in honor of International Women in Engineering Day, we’re proud to celebrate the remarkable achievements of our women engineers and the incredible contributions they make to our team and industry.

The first ‘International Women in Engineering Day’ was launched in the UK on June 23rd, 2014 by the Women’s Engineering Society (WES) to celebrate its 95th anniversary. Its aim was and still is to recognize the outstanding achievements and deliver accolades for women engineers throughout the world, as well as to spread awareness and strive towards a more balanced landscape for the future of engineering.

Here at Qwilt, we’ve always been committed to fostering an environment where everyone is valued and heard. Our People Team, led by SVP Hadar Vaturi, is consistently above the industry average when it comes to hiring women – usually a constant increase in the number of new women hires each month. It’s this type of attitude and committed investment in passionate women engineers that led us to be nominated for a RISE Award last year!

From a marketing perspective, SVP Lisa Aussieker and team do a remarkable job spotlighting the voices of women across the company, and ensuring we have a diverse mix of thought leaders. So far this year, 50% of our thought leadership articles have been authored by women – echoing the same trend we had in 2022. This deliberate effort has brought an entirely new set of perspectives and opinions into the industry conversations the we lead and participate in.

Despite marked progress in recent years, there is still more work to be done to make the world of engineering a truly inclusive one, as well as an attractive option for up-and-coming talent. Even today, the misconception that engineering is a male-dominated industry is still prevalent. Therefore, International Women in Engineering Day is an important reminder that it’s far from it. According to (WES) statistics:

• Women account for 14.5% of all engineers – a 25.7% increase since 2016 (up from 4.6% in the overall workforce)
• The number of women working in engineering has risen from 721,586 in Q2 of 2016 to 906,785 in Q3 of 2020

As such, we feel that it’s key to start inspiring women from a young age to be interested and engaged in STEM subjects and to continue this interest throughout their education and into the working world.

For this celebration, we want to go beyond the numbers, so we approached some of our brightest talent leading our engineering efforts toward an Open Caching future. We asked them to share their experiences and industry advice for other women looking to enter the exciting world of engineering. Here’s what they had to say!

Rachel Kahana Samet, Head of Product: “Be a professional, stay curious, and never stop learning. Invest time and attention in building relationships across the organization that will make it more fun to come to work and provide you a support team when you need it.”

Shira Kadmon, Program Manager: “I’ve been working in engineering for almost 20 years, and I’ve seen firsthand how women can make a difference in this field. I started my career as a QA engineer, and I’ve since worked my way up through different engineering roles, including development and management. Along the way, I’ve learned a lot about what it takes to be successful in this field, but most importantly, I’ve learned to be myself. I’m a woman and I’m an engineer, and I’m proud of both. I know I can make a difference in this field, and I encourage other women to do the same.”

Tamar Polacheck, Product Manager: “Don’t let other people’s doubts become your own self-doubt. There is a place for your voice and your ideas – you’ve gotten to where you are not because of chance or luck but because you deserve it.”

We’re thankful for all the incredible contributions that our engineers of all genders offer to our teams and we celebrate days such as ‘International Women in Engineering Day’ to remind us that we’re all equal in our achievements and purpose.