International Women in Engineering Day (INWED), celebrated annually on June 23rd, has become a global milestone for recognizing women’s contributions to engineering while highlighting the ongoing journey toward gender equality in STEM fields. To celebrate INWED 2026, industry leaders and visionaries are reflecting on both the progress made and the challenges that remain in building truly inclusive engineering environments.
Now in its 13th year, INWED continues to focus global attention on the achievements of women engineers and the urgent need to attract more women into the profession. This year’s theme, #EngineeringIntelligence, brings together organizations, educators, industry leaders, and communities to showcase the expertise, creativity, and leadership women bring to engineering every day. It’s a theme that couldn’t be more timely: as artificial intelligence reshapes every corner of the technology landscape, the voices and perspectives of women engineers have never been more essential.
The 2026 theme reflects the rapid rise of artificial intelligence and the critical need for diverse perspectives to shape the technologies of the future. Yet the work of inclusion remains far from finished.
In this special feature, VMblog brings together voices from across the technology and engineering landscape to share insights on mentorship, innovation, workplace culture, and pathways to success. These thought leaders offer practical strategies for organizations committed to gender parity, while celebrating the remarkable achievements of women engineers who are actively defining what Engineering Intelligence looks like — and building a more equitable future in the process.
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Rashmi Sharma, VP of Engineering, Recast
International Women in Engineering Day is a time to celebrate women in the field, but it should also push us to look at what still needs to change. Women remain underrepresented in engineering, especially in leadership. If we are talking about engineering intelligence (this year’s theme), we need to think beyond technical skills. Real intelligence also shows up in how we lead, make decisions, and help others move forward.
Mentorship has an important role. A good mentor can offer guidance, encouragement, and perspective. But advice alone does not always open doors. That is where sponsorship matters. Sponsors do more than support someone’s growth. Sponsors speak up for women when opportunities arise. They recommend them for stretch assignments, leadership roles, and promotions. They help make sure talented people are visible at the moments that matter.
For many women in engineering, the issue is not a lack of ambition or ability. It is a lack of access to the right opportunities. Too often, women are mentored and encouraged, but no one is actively advocating for them. Over time, that can slow career growth and limit who is seen as ready to lead. Leaders can help change this by being intentional. If you have influence, use it. Put forward the names of women who are ready for more. Create visibility instead of waiting for it to happen on its own.
Women who want to grow should also be clear about their goals and seek relationships with people who can advocate for them. A stronger engineering future depends on better systems of opportunity.
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Beth Caltagirone, Head of Marketing, StorPool Storage
Every breakthrough technology starts with someone willing to challenge assumptions and build something better. Throughout my career in enterprise technology, I’ve had the privilege of working with incredibly talented women engineers whose ideas, leadership, and technical expertise have helped transform industries.
International Women in Engineering Day is an opportunity to recognize not only their achievements, but also the importance of creating environments where more women can thrive in technical careers. The future of innovation depends on diverse perspectives, and the technology industry is stronger when everyone has a seat at the table.
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Mariia Rymar, Senior Product Designer at Object First
Many people see engineering as primarily about development and coding. However, as a product designer, I believe engineering is ultimately about understanding people and creating meaningful solutions to their problems. To do that effectively, diverse perspectives are essential. That’s why International Women in Engineering Day is so important, not only to me, but to the industry as a whole.
I love this year’s theme: #EngineeringIntelligence. Some of the most insightful and brightest engineers I’ve had the pleasure of working with have been women, and their contributions should not be undervalued. I encourage young women and girls considering a career in engineering to pursue their dreams. While challenging, it’s a fulfilling career where you continuously learn, innovate, and create solutions that make a real difference in the world.
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By Rebecca Lennartz, Product Security Manager, IGEL
Engineering is ultimately about trust. The systems we build have to be secure, resilient, and dependable enough for people to do their best work, especially when the environment around them is complex or under pressure. At IGEL, that responsibility is very real. We are helping organizations create a more trusted endpoint foundation for modern work, from the enterprise desktop to high-consequence environments where uptime and security matter deeply. As a woman in engineering leadership, I believe better systems are built by teams with different experiences, questions, and instincts. In order to get there everyone, independent from their gender, political and religious orientation, have to team up to support one another and grow each others’ capabilities through excellent interpersonal communication skills. Diversity is the key to a peaceful, sustainable, secure, and innovative future for the entire world.
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Beata Barath, Principal Project Manager, Service Delivery, 11:11 Systems
International Women in Engineering Day is an important reminder that while the number of women in engineering is growing, there is still more we can do to increase representation and show young people that this is a career where women can truly thrive.
In my experience, the best innovation happens when people from different backgrounds and perspectives come together and feel comfortable sharing their ideas. In complex environments, that kind of collaboration leads to stronger decision-making, better problem-solving, and teams that are more resilient and adaptable.
When we continue creating space for diverse voices in engineering, we are not only strengthening our teams today, but also helping build a more inclusive future for the next generation.
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Payal Srivastava, Senior Director, Product Management, Everpure
The rapid convergence of Gen AI, data analytics, and cloud infrastructure is completely reshaping the enterprise. To build systems that actually solve complex, human problems at this scale, we need all perspectives at the whiteboard. Having spent my career leading SaaS, storage, and data products from incubation to global market launch, I’ve learned that giving space, creating opportunities, and building diverse teams with varied strengths is the key for successful missions.
For women in tech, leadership isn’t just about owning the technical product roadmap; it’s about architecting the high-performing teams that make execution possible. In an AI-driven era, our most irreplaceable asset is collaborative human intelligence. As leaders, our priority must be to actively develop and empower female technical talent, ensuring they have the platform to lead market transformation. To the women shaping this space: your perspective is a powerful market differentiator. Claim your seat, trust your data, and build the future.
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Paulette Carlson, VP of Engineering, Kantata
AI is forcing a reckoning with what engineering intelligence actually is. Leading global teams has taught me the same lesson: technical expertise gets you in the room, but it’s curiosity, cultural humility, and the ability to build trust across difference that moves the work. Women in engineering have been developing that intelligence out of necessity for a long time. The field is finally catching up to what we already knew.
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Estelle Azemard, CEO, Leaseweb Canada
It’s interesting. If you go back a few decades, engineering was often viewed as a fairly straightforward discipline. You were building a bridge. Designing a system. Solving a technical problem specifically. As a society, today, engineering sits at the center of almost every major conversation. AI. Sustainability. Healthcare. Transportation. Energy. Digital infrastructure. Engineers are helping shape what the future looks like, in many important ways.
That’s just one of the reasons International Women in Engineering Day is important. The challenges we’re facing are not getting less complicated, they’re growing. And when problems get more challenging, different perspectives become incredibly valuable. The industry talks a lot about talent shortages. And, rightly so. We do indeed need more engineers. We need more innovators. We need more people willing to tackle difficult problems, in new ways. Creating opportunities for more women to enter and thrive in engineering isn’t simply good for representation. It’s good for engineering. Because the future is going to belong to the organizations that can bring together and deploy the best ideas, regardless of where they come from.
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Chrissay Brinkmann, Sales Support & Technical Delivery, Leaseweb USA
The fact that the work is never really finished, is one thing I’ve always found fascinating about engineering. Every time you solve one problem… technology advances, expectations change, and suddenly there’s a new problem waiting for you. You’re constantly learning, adapting, and figuring things out – that’s part of what makes the field so rewarding.
It’s hard not to think about how much talent the industry is going to need over the next decade, when I look at where technology is headed, especially with AI becoming part of virtually every conversation. Different perspectives and different ways of thinking, not just more talent. Some of the best solutions I’ve seen came from someone asking a question nobody else in the room thought to ask. International Women in Engineering Day is a chance to celebrate the women who have helped move this industry forward, but it’s also a reminder that the next generation of engineers will play a huge role in shaping what comes next. The better off we’ll all be, the more people we encourage to participate in that future.
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Chaitanya Bhandari, Software Engineer – E5, Whatfix
In the startup ecosystem, the underrepresentation of women is a very visible reality. There are distinct differences in how men and women often approach problem-solving, communication, and decision-making. Understanding and adapting to these different behavioral dynamics from the beginning of my career has allowed me to approach any engineering challenge with a dual perspective, bridging communication gaps, and bringing a more balanced, multi-faceted viewpoint to my team.
The challenges women, especially those in STEM careers, face when it comes to representation and support in the workplace are not limited to startups. Women in engineering often feel pressure to overcompensate to prove they belong. The tech industry encourages failing fast, but the reality is that women are given a much narrower margin for failure. This International Women in Engineering Day, I want us to recognize that women need the psychological safety of knowing they belong and don’t need to burn themselves out to prove their worth.
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Madison Ecklund, Business Lead, Load Switches at Texas Instruments
International Women in Engineering Day is a powerful reminder to all women in engineering that we belong in the room and that our perspectives have value. Many women in engineering experience imposter syndrome, so there’s something incredibly empowering about realizing you’re not alone. By showing up every day and being authentic, I hope to inspire the next generation of women to see themselves in engineering and know that they too can make a meaningful impact in the field.
I’ve learned throughout my career that challenges are rarely solved by technical expertise alone. Diverse perspectives lead to better innovation, and women often bring strong collaboration skills that help connect ideas, align teams, and ensure we’re solving the right problem, not just meeting technical requirements.
As a woman in engineering at TI, I’ve been especially proud of my work in supporting the evolution of automotive body electronics and lighting systems as the industry moves toward software-defined vehicles and zonal architectures. At CES 2026, my team and I showcased a fully functional vehicle architecture, with technologies and capabilities that will define the next generation of software-defined vehicles. Seeing that complex system come together was incredibly rewarding and serves as a personal reminder of the role women can play in driving innovation.
My advice to young women considering engineering is simple: if you love something, pursue it. Don’t let others limit what you think is possible. With curiosity, hard work, and persistence, you can achieve far more than you may realize.
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Gina Murphy, President and Chief Transformation Officer, Netrio
International Women’s Day is an ideal time for women to take a close look at how they can develop their AI skills and knowledge to not only help their companies improve productivity and efficiency but also advance their careers and see what new opportunities AI can open up for them. Things are moving so quickly with AI and there is so much conflicting information out there that there’s significant opportunity for those who invest their time and energy to elevate their AI skills in a way that truly stands out and makes them an expert. This could be a turning point where women in engineering, IT and other disciplines can rise up and lead the way in this new, AI-driven era. It’s important to seize this opportunity and not let it pass you by.
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Priyanka Ravishankar, Manager, Technical Support Services, Spinnaker Support
The biggest risk I ever took was choosing not to wait. Not for permission, not for the perfect moment, not for someone to tell me I was ready. I’ve moved across continents, shifted roles, and gone back to school mid-career at Chicago Booth, not because I had a plan, but because I kept saying yes to what challenged me. That’s what working in SAP across India, Singapore, and the U.S. taught me…complex systems, like careers, reward the people willing to go deeper. To young women in tech: the opportunity you’re hesitating over? Take it. Growth doesn’t announce itself. It just shows up disguised as something hard.
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Erin Kouri, Engineering Director, Sonar
One reason women often thrive in engineering is that we’ve been building resilience long before we ever set foot in an office. As one of the few women in our college classes, we learned early to raise our hand anyway: to risk the “dumb” question, to insert ourselves into study groups, to take up space in rooms that weren’t designed with us in mind. We had to make peace with discomfort before we had a salary or a title, and that early reckoning turned out to be one of the most valuable things we brought to our careers. None of that should have been necessary, but since it was, we made something of it.
What I’ve come to realize is that this isn’t a “women’s issue.” It’s a human one. The willingness to be wrong out loud, to speak an idea before it’s fully formed, to ask the question you’re afraid sounds obvious: these are how any engineer grows. I’ve coached plenty of male colleagues on exactly this. The difference is that many women had no choice but to learn it early. There’s a kind of freedom in understanding that failure isn’t the opposite of success, it’s the mechanism of it. You only discover why an idea doesn’t work by first being brave enough to say it. So on International Women in Engineering Day, I want to celebrate every woman who walked into a room that wasn’t built for her, raised her hand anyway, and kept showing up, because that courage is exactly what moves the field forward.
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Neha Narkhede, CEO, Oscilar
Women often become strong engineers because we learn early how to build without waiting for perfect conditions. I started my career as a young immigrant woman in tech, often the only woman in the room and often without a playbook for what belonging was supposed to look like. At the time, my response was to keep my head down and focus on the work: to get better, to solve harder problems, to build systems that mattered. That instinct carried me through the early days of Apache Kafka, Confluent, and now Oscilar. But over time, I’ve realized that doing great work is only part of the responsibility. The other part is speaking up, creating space, and making it easier for the next person to walk into the room with more confidence than you had.
What I’ve come to believe is that engineering is not only about technical conviction. It is about the courage to take on problems that do not yet have obvious answers. At Oscilar, we are building AI-native risk infrastructure because fraud, compliance, and financial crime are moving faster than legacy systems can handle. The work required resilience, curiosity, and the willingness to keep going before the path was fully clear. On International Women in Engineering Day, I want to celebrate the women who bring that kind of courage to engineering every day: the ones who ask the hard question, challenge the inherited system, build the foundation no one else sees yet, and help make the future more inclusive, more reliable and more human.
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Mayada Gonimah, CTO and Co-Founder, Thread AI
Sometimes I cringe when a founder’s or engineer’s gender is highlighted like it’s a qualifier or a caveat. But at the same time, it represents a real truth: women are still greatly underrepresented in engineering.
From that perspective, I am incredibly lucky to have met Angela McNeal, my co-founder. Our careers traced similar paths at Goldman Sachs and eventually Palantir, where we met and worked together with a diverse team made up of at least 50% women – all because Angela actively sought to make it that way. It was during this time we realized we have a shared philosophy toward technology that also applies to creating the next generation of women in the workforce: The future isn’t something that just happens to us. It’s something we build. It’s a system we architect.
At Thread AI, every engineer, no matter their seniority, is a builder at heart. Our team is accountable for outcomes across compute, data, and the organizational and identity primitives that hold the product together, all without the traditional product-manager and project-manager scaffolding around them. Our model works only because the people in those seats have the depth to know what they do not know, and the breadth to fill the gaps with agents. That kind of judgment – knowing where the machine is wrong, and why – is exactly what gets lost when the teams building these systems all think alike.
The core issue facing organizations today is not whether AI will replace engineers. The more useful question for anyone running a company is whether we are protecting the people who understand our systems deeply enough to recognize when the machines are wrong. A 2025 empirical study found that AI repositories built by gender-diverse teams showed measurably higher code quality than those built by homogenous ones, and that female contributors’ code, though a smaller share of the total, was consistently rated higher quality than their male counterparts’.
In an era when software can be generated faster than it can be understood, the companies that hold onto what is human, verifiable, and deeply understood will be the ones still standing when the brittle parts give way. In the age of AI, building diverse teams goes far beyond a company’s values statement. It’s an engineering decision.
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Susan Odle, CEO at StorMagic
The technology playing field is changing, and while technical knowledge remains vital, resilience has become equally important. Priorities are constantly shifting due to economic and geopolitical uncertainty, which is now a part of everyday work experience. Those who succeed in this environment need to develop chaos management skills. Individuals and organisations alike need to to continue to move forward, even when facing constant change.
Constant change is challenging, but this is where women make a real impact, as many of us have already had to adapt to environments that were not designed with us in mind. When I entered the workforce, it was transparently a man’s world, and I had to make a conscious choice to become a part of it. While the nature of the challenge may have changed, the ability to persevere and succeed despite complexity is exactly how women will continue to shape the future of technology.
It starts with early encouragement of women to enter technical industries, so that we can welcome more perspectives into the room. Young women need to be given the space to be curious so that they can discover their passion. Teachers, parents, mentors and industry leaders all have a role to play in exposing them to STEM. By creating and supporting those opportunities early, we can help young girls establish and build the inherent belief that they can achieve anything they set their minds to.
To any woman who is considering a technology path, go for it, because you never know where it could lead. While it won’t be a straightforward journey, nothing worth achieving is.
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Leanne Taylor, CEO at Syspro
I’ve spent my career in an industry that hasn’t always made it easy for women to be at the forefront. That’s changing, but not fast enough.
Currently, the engineering talent gap in the manufacturing and distribution industry is very real. Women remain significantly underrepresented across engineering disciplines, and manufacturing has a longer road to travel than most sectors. But I’ve seen what happens when organizations commit to changing that, not through initiatives alone, but through conscious everyday decisions that are implemented in an organization’s culture.
What I’ve learnt over the years is that when you put capable women in the room as problem-solvers and decision-makers, not just as a token presence, that is when outcomes really improve. This matters even more as AI becomes embedded within manufacturing and distribution at pace. The systems being designed today will shape the industry for the next decade and who builds those systems is not a diversity checkbox. It’s a question of who has the abilities we need to succeed.
On International Women in Engineering Day, my advice to the young women considering a career in engineering or industrial technology is this: this industry needs your perspective and contribution. The obstacles may still be there, but so is the opportunity to shape something that matters.
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