hello so I’m Katia and as you heard I’m
an engineering student and I’m also a
woman so what has it been like for me in
this traditionally male-dominated
environment well to be honest at my
university I have actually never felt
questioned by anyone but myself I’ve
always felt like I’ve had a place and at
the same time like it didn’t really
belong to me especially during my first
years and what I realized was that in my
case I can’t really say that it’s my
university fault so we need to back up
the tape a bit eight-year-old Katya she
was cocky a bit need but she thought
mathematics was fun she took computer
science classes and she just loved
telling everybody what to do
even if they didn’t really want to hear
it and solving problems and organizing
and that kind of stuff so already then I
showed typical traits of an engineer but
that wasn’t the way I was seen because
you know I was a girl I took natural
science and I had the highest grade in
just about all of my classes so what do
you guys think that people told me that
I should become exactly because I’m a
woman I’m nurturing I’m caring so I
should be a doctor right or in some
cases when that option was turned down
teacher was suggested to me and this
even though I hate the sight of blood
I’m not very fond of sick people and in
so I had all these people around me you
know like teachers and counselors that I
trusted and really respected and
respected their opinion of me but no one
ever told me not once that I should or
even could become an engineer and now
you may wonder how did I end up at
Sweden’s biggest Technical University
well when I sat there with the list of
possible careers to pursue engineering
was there but it was written far far
down on the list and almost written in
some sort of invisible ink but
eventually all other options got crossed
out you know no blood no children which
means that I actually chose engineering
not because it was the obvious choice
for me but because it was my only option
left and since I didn’t believe in
myself within this field when I got
accepted I approached the whole thing
that was four and a half years ago and
now I’m six months away from becoming an
engineer thank you
[Applause]
obviously something happened along the
way and now I know that I’m exactly
where I’m supposed to be much thanks to
the support I’ve felt at my university
but don’t give me get me wrong we still
have a lot of work to do here as well I
mean we need to increase the number of
female professors it’s crazy but I had
my first female lecturer during my third
year and we need to even out the numbers
between men and women in engineering
because we know that when facing the
challenges of the future
it is best done with diverse teams but
the lack of female professors and the
gender gap between students is only a
symptom of the issue I raised
earlier if the option of becoming an
engineer is not presented to young girls
with great potential then yeah we’ll
have many doctors and teachers and that
is great but how will we ever even out
the numbers within the technological
field I’d say that a technical
universities at least here in Sweden we
are beyond normalizing that women belong
here it is normal now we do belong here
what we need to do now is to move
outside our universities and normalize
it in society Engineering as an
occupation must be presented to all
young people showing potential within
this field girls and boys do don’t need
to pursue it but they need to know that
the option is available and that they
can do it if they want to if I could
travel back in time to my 18 year old
self I would strengthen her confidence
by putting engineering at the top of her
list and I would fill in that invisible
ink with a big fat marker and for all I
know there are thousands of young girls
out there in the same position as I was
and if I could ask one thing of you guys
today is that if you ever meet them make
sure you carry that big fat marker with
you so you could fill out their
invisible ink because I believe that is
how we will increase the number of female engineers in the future thank you
an engineering student and I’m also a
woman so what has it been like for me in
this traditionally male-dominated
environment well to be honest at my
university I have actually never felt
questioned by anyone but myself I’ve
always felt like I’ve had a place and at
the same time like it didn’t really
belong to me especially during my first
years and what I realized was that in my
case I can’t really say that it’s my
university fault so we need to back up
the tape a bit eight-year-old Katya she
was cocky a bit need but she thought
mathematics was fun she took computer
science classes and she just loved
telling everybody what to do
even if they didn’t really want to hear
it and solving problems and organizing
and that kind of stuff so already then I
showed typical traits of an engineer but
that wasn’t the way I was seen because
you know I was a girl I took natural
science and I had the highest grade in
just about all of my classes so what do
you guys think that people told me that
I should become exactly because I’m a
woman I’m nurturing I’m caring so I
should be a doctor right or in some
cases when that option was turned down
teacher was suggested to me and this
even though I hate the sight of blood
I’m not very fond of sick people and in
so I had all these people around me you
know like teachers and counselors that I
trusted and really respected and
respected their opinion of me but no one
ever told me not once that I should or
even could become an engineer and now
you may wonder how did I end up at
Sweden’s biggest Technical University
well when I sat there with the list of
possible careers to pursue engineering
was there but it was written far far
down on the list and almost written in
some sort of invisible ink but
eventually all other options got crossed
out you know no blood no children which
means that I actually chose engineering
not because it was the obvious choice
for me but because it was my only option
left and since I didn’t believe in
myself within this field when I got
accepted I approached the whole thing
that was four and a half years ago and
now I’m six months away from becoming an
engineer thank you
[Applause]
obviously something happened along the
way and now I know that I’m exactly
where I’m supposed to be much thanks to
the support I’ve felt at my university
but don’t give me get me wrong we still
have a lot of work to do here as well I
mean we need to increase the number of
female professors it’s crazy but I had
my first female lecturer during my third
year and we need to even out the numbers
between men and women in engineering
because we know that when facing the
challenges of the future
it is best done with diverse teams but
the lack of female professors and the
gender gap between students is only a
symptom of the issue I raised
earlier if the option of becoming an
engineer is not presented to young girls
with great potential then yeah we’ll
have many doctors and teachers and that
is great but how will we ever even out
the numbers within the technological
field I’d say that a technical
universities at least here in Sweden we
are beyond normalizing that women belong
here it is normal now we do belong here
what we need to do now is to move
outside our universities and normalize
it in society Engineering as an
occupation must be presented to all
young people showing potential within
this field girls and boys do don’t need
to pursue it but they need to know that
the option is available and that they
can do it if they want to if I could
travel back in time to my 18 year old
self I would strengthen her confidence
by putting engineering at the top of her
list and I would fill in that invisible
ink with a big fat marker and for all I
know there are thousands of young girls
out there in the same position as I was
and if I could ask one thing of you guys
today is that if you ever meet them make
sure you carry that big fat marker with
you so you could fill out their
invisible ink because I believe that is
how we will increase the number of female engineers in the future thank you
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