3/8/2021
The role of women in the technical professions
The role of female engineers struggles to emerge despite they have taken important steps and despite their being an excellence in the world of technical professions; women are still not considered suitable for a professional leadership role like their male colleagues.
In Italy, women who graduate in engineering increase even if the inequality between men and women in employment rates and remuneration persists.
Armando Zambrano, president of the National Council of Engineers (CNI), affirmed that women engineers are a "sign of innovative character" and that, despite the construction world still faces a lot of resistance, women and technology are a winning combination: female talent at the service of scientific, technological, environmental, sustainability and well-being linked to the building heritage are the confirmation of this.
Schnell has got approx. 40 women on its staff. We asked Tania, Eleonora and Samantha to tell us their stories. 3 women, 3 engineers, 3 different professional paths but with a common denominator: the comparison with the world of men.
Tania Anniballi graduated in Mechanical Engineering in 2000 and joined the Schnell family in 2001. "I was lucky enough to choose the company - says Tania - The desire for commitment and the great passion that has been transmitted to me since the very first meetings with Mirko Guazzarotti, Schnell Technical and Production Director at the time, made me choose Schnell. It was certainly not my first role in the production area that frightened me (reminders of missing items) and not even a ladder to manually check the availability of items in the warehouse because I knew that this was the first of many ladders".
Tania continues her path even if she does not always receive the approval in her "dress of a woman". After almost 20 years, Tania obtains the role of Head of Industrialization and Quality and today finds herself at the head of Schnell team in charge of the Quality: incoming quality (relationship with suppliers) and outgoing quality (resolution of complex problems with customers).
"In an industrial world, being a woman unfortunately means starting with the disadvantage of being linked to the figure of a woman, a mother and the disadvantage of having to try to obtain credibility - says Tania - In Schnell I found my balance and today I have the opportunity to implement my skills and have future ambitions. One of the future ambitions in the short term is to find a way to reduce the warranty costs. If my team and I succeed in reaching this goal, then it means that we are significant in the choices and also I, in my role as a woman engineer”.
Now we move our attention to the two colleagues at her side: Samantha Tombari, Management Engineer, and Eleonora Biondi, Aeronautical Engineer.
After working as a process engineer at an important company in Fano for 7 years, Samantha joins Schnell in 2017. A dynamic girl, immediately ready to work in a team, she’s not afraid of new colleagues or complex projects.
"The dynamic and stimulating climate in which I found myself gives me even more energy to do my best – tells us Samantha - I share the difficulty of integrating us women into the industrial sector, a reality that is still very masculine. The technical and engineering area are not simple. Yes, we are engineers, we have acquired the right skills through our studies and our past experiences, but …. there is always something less in us women when we relate to the male world. I must admit that Schnell is offering me a great professional growth."
2020 opens for her with a new assignment: the coordination of the coding office. And in "this place where you feel really good", as she defines Schnell, she still has a lot to offer: "I hope, in my future, to be able to apply the improvement".
After earning a degree in aeronautical engineering and after 5 years of professional experience in Milan, Eleonora moves to Senigallia, and joins our group in June 2020. With a past experience as technical-commercial in the industrial sector and two years at a forge as Project Engineer, Eleonora passes from the detailed knowledge of the steel ingot processing to semi-finished products and then to the complex assembly processes of our machinery.
Today in Schnell, she plays the role of Plan Commissioning and she works with Tania and her quality team.
“I worked for companies where the male presence was even stronger and where the female component was really minimal. This did not hinder my path. I dealt for years with a basic, very simple product that is steel, but I followed its long manufacturing processes "- tells us Eleonora -" Schnell stood out compared to other companies for its human values. Schnell offered me professionalism, but also that rare human component that perhaps has been lacking in past the years”.
It is true that we are still far from goals of fairness, but Tania, Samantha and Eleonora are the perfect example of women who are taking on an increasingly decisive role!
