Having been asked to speak at the first official Ada Lovelace Day (15th Oct) celebration in Canada this year, I spent some time thinking about exactly what message I wanted kids, parents, teenagers & women in tech attending to hear. I decided to tell them my story. But more importantly why I decided to start Rocket Women; to give back to the women that had inspired me along my journey, helping me to reach where I am today. I’ve decided that the best way to do that is by inspiring others.
Focusing on role models, I believe that positive female role models are essential to provide women with examples to look up to when they’re making the most critical decisions in their education, lives or careers. For myself Sunita Williams has always been an inspiration and I was lucky enough to meet her whilst working at the European Space Agency. She went on to give me some fantastic advice to write my engineering Masters thesis on Future Lunar EVA Suit Design and Operations. What should be highlighted though is not only the number of female role models available for women right now, but ensuring that there will be role models in the future for future generations to look up to and aim towards.
In the year celebrating the 50th anniversary of the First Woman In Space, Valentina Tereshkova (& the 30th Anniversary of the First American Woman in Space, Sally Ride), NASA also announced their new astronaut class with the highest percentage of female astronauts ever selected by the agency. Four out of the new eight astronauts are female with a breadth of experience among them, with women now representing 26% of NASA’s astronaut corps. The four women chosen are Christina M. Hammock, NOAA station chief in American Samoa, Nicole Aunapu Mann, US Marine and F18 fighter pilot, Dr.Jessica Meir PhD, Assistant Professor of Anesthesia at Harvard Medical School and Anne C. McClain, US Army and OH-58 Helicopter Pilot. Dr.Jessica Meir PhD is also a graduate of the International Space University (ISU) (MSS00), making me proud to be an ISU alumnus myself!
Taking into account the significant impact that this decision will have on future generations, hopefully this trend towards equality will continue. Each decision, whether it be that a new astronaut corps has a 50% male-female ratio or whether companies decide to promote and hire women into high profile and visible leadership roles, will influence the future of these industries and their overall success to come.