INSIGHT 2|2019

19 WHY DO YOU THINK THERE ARE FEWERWOMEN STUDYING ENGINEERING? For any woman who wants to start a family, it takes a long time to get an engineering degree. Some women may want to start a family earlier. Another factor is the way boys and girls are brought up. When a girl plays with a doll and fixes her leg, the parents say, “one day you will become a hospital nurse”. And if a boy does the same, the parents say, “one day you will be a doctor”. WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR YOUNGER FEMALE R&D ENGINEERS TO GROW THEIR CAREER? WHY DO YOU THINK FEWERWOMEN THANMEN STUDY ENGINEERING? I studied chemistry; there are a lot of women in chemistry, so I wasn’t the only one. When you talk about industry however, it’s different. FOCUS ON WHY DO YOU THINK THERE ARE FEWERWOMEN WHO STUDY ENGINEERING THANMEN? There are fewer women taking degrees in scientific topics. You could probably say it’s because they don’t have the same opportunities to access these studies. NATHALIE LECOURTIER ALEXANDRA KESTEL-JAKOB PHD ISABELLE DENIZET WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR YOUNGER FEMALE R&D ENGINEERS TO GROW THEIR CAREER? My daughter is a junior engineer. So I have the experience of giving advice! For me, there is no difference between a man and a woman for the technical part of our job. We are all equal. But you do need to be unafraid of the work. DID YOU FACE ANY SPECIFIC CHALLENGES AS A FEMALE ON YOUR JOURNEY AT PRYSMIAN? I don’t know. There are fewer women in Prysmian compared to General Cable, and when the integration happened this was a big difference for me. For 10 years, the director of our Montereau- Fault-Yonne plant was a woman. R&D Head of Optical Fibre Cables at Montereau-Fault-Yonne R&DHead of Materials and Compounds, CEE South Europe R&D Head of Medium Voltage cables If they really want to do it, they should. For themselves, and not because their parents want it. You need commitment because you may have to work to support your studies and you have to sacrifice leisure. Follow your passion. Only when you have the passion will you get addicted to research. DID YOU FACE ANY SPECIFIC CHALLENGES AS A FEMALE ON YOUR JOURNEY AT PRYSMIAN? I started around 10 years ago in the Department of Materials and Compounds in Neustadt, and was one of the only women. But I never encountered discrimination. Nonetheless, there were some funny encounters. One day many years ago, a rawmaterials supplier came to my office to discuss a problem, asking for Mr. Kestel-Jakob. This situation showed that some people assume only men are in technical positions. As a consequence, you always need more power as a woman to demonstrate that you have the same competencies. But today nobody would dare to ask this again. WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR YOUNGER FEMALE R&D ENGINEERS TO GROW THEIR CAREER? Be self-confident and do not feel ‘different’. I don’t believe women should emphasise the fact we are women. We should just do exactly as men do. DID YOU FACE ANY SPECIFIC CHALLENGES AS A FEMALE ON YOUR JOURNEY AT PRYSMIAN? I started my career 20 years ago so I’m used to working in a man’s world. Being the only women in a meeting with 10 men is normal. I’m OK with it. I don’t know if my male colleagues have a different view. But I was never made to feel different because I am a woman.