Jacqueline Castle • 23.06.23 •  2 mins

This International Women in Engineering Day, ATI CTO, Jacqueline Castle discusses the importance of role models in inspiring the next generation of female engineers.

On International Women in Engineering Day 2023 (INWED) it is the first time we have had female CTOs at Airbus, Rolls-Royce and the ATI. I’m proud and excited to be working alongside Sabine and Grazia, and colleagues across the sector, in my new role as CTO at the ATI on our shared mission to reach Destination Zero.

I hope seeing three women in these roles offers inspiration to young women and girls with an interest in STEM giving them a little more confidence to see themselves reaching their potential in aerospace and aviation.

Being able to look around the table and feel represented is a real stimulus for people to further progress their career, and that was one aspect discussed at an INWED Roundtable hosted by Boeing last week. It was a great opportunity to make new connections and share learnings and insights with experts in their field.

The theme of this year’s INWED is Make Safety Seen, something which has always been a priority for me in my time leading teams on wings, landing gear, and whole aircraft development. I’ve seen the value of making safety seen from PPE to holding everyone accountable to safety standards. I was shocked to learn at the roundtable that women operating in extremely challenging situations have often worn ill-fitting PPE which was not sized for women and this is something Sarah Atherton MP explained she has been driving to change.

From an aerospace engineering perspective I see the importance of creating environments where everyone feels able to speak up. This is essential to raise issues that may have a safety critical implication for the operation of our products, but also to ensure we maximise everyone’s contribution to our engineering challenges. We are pushing very hard in the sector to continuously improve aircraft efficiency and develop new sustainable technologies so we need safe environments for everyone to be able to speak and be listened to so they can fully contribute and thrive as themselves.

That’s the environment the ATI is committed to creating and signing up to Women in Aviation & Aerospace (WIAA) Charter in March was another step towards this. We’re proud to be part of a sector-wide community leading meaningful change for the benefit of colleagues today and the next generation of talent.

As part of this, the ATI is planning a WIAA event later in the year so watch this space for news on events and opportunities to network and celebrate women in aerospace and aviation.