Munich. Working on the innovative, serving to form the longer term and discovering options to issues – that’s what feminine engineers love about their careers with the BMW Group. The firm goals to get much more ladies enthusiastic about expertise. Although the proportion of girls within the workforce continues to climb, it may very well be greater – particularly within the technical professions.

Women’s creativity and considering make a constructive contribution to range on the BMW Group – and variety is a hit issue that makes firms extra progressive. Growing demand for employees can solely be met with growing illustration of girls in future competences.

Ilka Horstmeier, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, answerable for People and Real Estate, Labour Relations Director, underlined that: “We want to get more young women interested in STEM careers, so we can shape the future of individual mobility with them. We believe in a diverse team spirit, with equal opportunities and responsibility for each individual. That is how we are making BMW electric, digital and circular.”

The BMW Group is subsequently profiting from International Women’s Day on 8 March to focus on the numerous alternatives for ladies within the STEM area. To goal them, you will need to spark an curiosity in technical topics at an early age. Inspiring position fashions additionally play an essential half.

The following feminine engineers took an curiosity in expertise from a younger age: Céline Laurent-Winter at all times liked maths, physics and computer systems at college; Kirsten Matheus’s expertise was related, with arithmetic one in all her favorite topics; Stella Clarke notably loved courses the place she and the opposite ladies had been allowed to experiment, reminiscent of programming a robotic arm. Today, all three are profitable engineers on the BMW Group.

#empowerGirl: Getting to know firms up shut

These three ladies’s biographies have one factor in frequent – all of them liked numbers and expertise, at the same time as kids and youngsters. This is exactly the age the place BMW Group initiatives goal to succeed in ladies. The firm’s newest dedication is supporting the initiative #empowerGirl, an internet portal designed to attach schoolgirls eager about STEM with firms and allow them to realize early insights into technical professions. Girls can try internship alternatives on-line and get in contact with contacts on the firms immediately.

Girls’ Day on 25 April, which the BMW Group participates in increasingly more extensively nationwide yearly, additionally supplies insights into real-world situations. On today, the corporate opens its doorways to women aged from 14 to 19 and spotlights STEM careers associated to automotive manufacturing. The focus of this motion day is on asking questions and making an attempt issues out with out feeling nervous. 

Maker Spaces: Discovering a ardour for technical subjects

Try it out for your self – that can be the idea behind the so-called Maker Space in Munich which the BMW Group is partnering with: The publicly accessible workshop relies on the idea of explorative studying and lowers the edge for experimenting with expertise. It creates a no-pressure surroundings by which ladies, specifically, can uncover their ardour for technical topics. Development engineer Stella Clarke loves the “terrific atmosphere” on the Maker Space, which boosts self-belief with a “you can do it” perspective. 

High share of girls in expertise improvement programmes

Once an curiosity in expertise has been woke up, it’s critical to proceed encouraging younger ladies and supporting them on the highway to an engineering profession. The BMW Group ensures there may be excessive feminine illustration in its expertise improvement programmes. For instance, ladies have made up over 40 % of its AcceleratiON trainee programme for years.

Work-life steadiness continues to be a decisive issue for ladies pursuing a profession. The BMW Group’s joint management mannequin performs a very essential position on this context: Both women and men have the chance to share a managerial place with equal accountability throughout a transition interval. This makes it simpler to steadiness work and household throughout sure phases in life.

Inspiring ladies as position fashions

Experience has proven that ladies and younger ladies want robust position fashions they’ll establish with and who encourage them to say themselves in a area nonetheless largely dominated by males. Engineers Céline Laurent-Winter, Kirsten Matheus and Stella Clarke are precisely that sort of inspiring position mannequin.

Céline Laurent-Winter: Learning by no means ends 

“If you love STEM subjects, stick with it! There are exciting jobs and future-oriented topics waiting for you. Women are just as good as men at these things!” encourages Céline Laurent-Winter. Laurent-Winter, who was born in France and has been with the BMW Group for nearly 19 years, at present works in car connectivity. After learning manufacturing and automation expertise, she earned a PhD in laptop science. She says essentially the most thrilling factor about her job is that, with a profession in STEM, you by no means cease studying. “The digital world offers endless possibilities that are constantly growing.”

Kirsten Matheus: Changing issues for the higher

“What makes it exciting is the diversity – from highly technical to highly strategic, everything is possible,” says Kirsten Matheus about her job as an engineer. She describes herself as having an “engineering personality”. Solving issues and reaching objectives has at all times given her great satisfaction. She has labored for the BMW Group for 14 years in electronics improvement and is answerable for technique for communication applied sciences. A profession as an engineer appeals to her on two ranges: She desires to vary issues for the higher and, on the identical time, be capable of present for a household on her wage.

Stella Clarke: Tracking down abilities

“I believe women need more encouragement,” says Stella Clarke, from Australia, who studied mechanical engineering and has labored for the BMW Group for 17 years as a improvement engineer. She developed the thought for altering the color of the car physique with progressive E Ink expertise. “Believe in yourself!” she urges younger ladies. In her view, each baby is keen to discover and determine how the world works. She believes younger individuals want extra encouragement and inspiration to interact with science and expertise.

Driven by Diversity: Diversity is the muse of our success

The BMW Group views range as a energy. Diversity helps us recruit and retain the most effective abilities and meet our stakeholders’ expectations worldwide. We promote a tradition that is freed from prejudice and values variations and imagine that fairness and inclusion are elementary necessities for this.