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Women in
Engineering
a History of Firsts
The role of women in engineering shouldnt
be a secret, as without their vital contributions
the industry wouldnt have achieved what it
has today. With countless contributions to
celebrate, weve marked just a few as we
take a step back in time to look at a
history of firsts

Kate Gleason is the 1st

woman elected to full
membership of ASME

1914

1906

1905
1843

Edith Clarke earns a Masters in

Electrical Engineering at MIT the first
woman to do so

1919

Alice Perry becomes the

first female Engineering
graduate in Ireland or
Great Britain
Nora Stanton Blatch Barney
becomes the first female
member of ASCE

1883

Lillian Gilbreth becomes

the first female Professor at
the School of Engineering,
Purdue University
The first woman marine
engineer in Britain, Victoria
Drummond, is awarded an
MBE for bravery at sea in WWII

Ada Lovelace publishes work which

will later see her recognized as the
first computer programmer

1986

Emily Roebling crosses the Brooklyn

Bridge after supervising its construction

1983

1974

Nancy D. Fitzroy becomes the

first female President of ASME

1993

1997

1
2

Martha Sloane
becomes the first
female IEEE President

Mary Fergusson is elected

first female fellow of the
Institution of Civil Engineers

1941

1957

1959

Mandakini Majumdar
(Deshpande) is the first
woman hired in Engineering
at IIT, Kharagpur, India
Sally Ride is the first person to
use a robotic arm in space to
retrieve a satellite

1935

Lois Graham becomes

the first American
woman to earn PhD in
Mechanical Engineering

The proportion of engineers in industry

who are women however is still very
low in the UK at only 9% the lowest
percentage in Europe.1

Likewise, in the USA, as little as

14% of the countrys engineering
workforce are women.2

Pam Liversidge is chosen

as the first woman
president of the Institution
of Mechanical Engineers

2003

2004

2005

2014

Theresa Helmlinger
Ratcliff becomes the first
female president of NSPE

Patricia Galloway
becomes the first
female President
of ASCE

Facebooks first female

engineer, Ruchi Sanghvi,
starts her new job

Dame Ann Dowling

becomes the first female
President of the Royal
Academy of Engineering

Womens Engineering Society, 2016. Useful Statistics. [Online] Available at: www.wes.org.uk/statistics
U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee, 2012. STEM Education: Preparing for the Jobs of the Future. [Online] Available at: bit.ly/2eUQvlt

Be inspired by our #inspirationalengineers stories at

bit.ly/womenengineering

2015
Naomi Climer is
elected as the first
female president of
the IET