Newark celebrates International Women in Engineering Day, shares professional insights

To mark International Women in Engineering Day 2020, Newark talked to women across its global operations to celebrate their achievements within the industry and discuss key topics such as gender diversity in the workplace. Twelve women leaders working within Newark joined the discussion from different parts of the world. The aim of the collaboration was to share their experiences to help aspiring women who want to pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) within their career.

According to Newark, conversations highlighted steps taken to increase women’s presence and prominence in the industry and progress made. Still, the group concluded that women still continue to remain underrepresented. The women discussed these changing scenarios, how to make strides to close the gender gap and how to fuel the next generation of female innovators. During the discussion, the group shared 5 tips for hopeful women engineers who aspire to work in the electronics industry:

1. Gain as much knowledge as you can about new developments, new technology and industry changes.
2. Believe in yourself. 
3. Get comfortable with feeling uncomfortable.
4. Don’t be held back by stereotypes.
5. Get a mentor who can act as a guiding force in your career and help you realise your true potential. Mentors can come in various forms.

"Diversity helps create more robust and flexible workplaces and it’s important that more women have the opportunity to innovate," said Chris Breslin, president at Newark. "Overlooking women in the workforce is a loss of talent. We must always strive to lift each other up and promote equality and respect everywhere."