ESB HAS THROWN its support behind TrailblazHER, a TU Dublin-led community that offers mentorship, scholarships, and resources to young women seeking to maximise their potential both in education and in the workforce.
Though progress has been made in the recent past, there are still challenges facing women who are trying to reach their professional goals within the world of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).
Órla Burke, a Chartered Electrical Engineer at ESB International, told The Journal: “A lot of women will still experience being the only woman in the room.”
“There’s very much an under-representation of women at all levels but particularly in senior positions,” said Órla. “I think part of the issue is that from a very young age we’re conditioned to assign certain roles to genders, and I think that consciously or unconsciously influences our choices in school and onwards in our university and careers.”
It is exactly this sort of implicit bias that TrailblazHER and ESB have teamed up to address.
Formed earlier this year on International Women’s Day, TrailblazHER is “a community of people, organisations and enterprises with a shared commitment to advancing gender equality”.
Since its launch, the community has been busy with the following initiatives to inspire and support young women pursuing education or work in the world of science and engineering, including:
“We have hosted over ten jam-packed events, connected with over 80 groups, organisations and businesses, added over 50 second level schoolteachers to our network, reached over 500 people from across TU Dublin and raised €1.3m in corporate donations to support our ambitious work programme,” said Claire Mac Namee, creator and director of TrailblazHER at TU Dublin.
Speaking to The Journal about the impact of TrailblazHER’s new partnership with ESB, however, Mac Namee said that it wasn’t solely about financial support.
“ESB has identified TrailblazHER Ambassadors from their staff who are now actively involved in mentoring students, sharing their experiences and bringing industry knowledge to help shape the next generation of women engineers, technologists and businesspeople,” said Mac Namee.
Mac Namee made the point that all stakeholders benefit when diversity and belonging are foregrounded, no matter the industry. “Gender-diverse companies often outperform their less diverse counterparts,” Mac Namee said. “A report by McKinsey found that companies in the top quartile for gender diversity were 21% more likely to have above-average profitability.”
While this all makes for compelling reading in terms of the bottom-line, it’s also important to underscore the difference that TrailblazHER’s partnership with ESB is making to young women embarking on their careers.
Stephanie, a student at TU Dublin, had her participation at the 10th International Summer Academy in Engineering for Women at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria sponsored by TrailblazHER.
Speaking in glowing terms about the experience, Stephanie said: “This experience has been invaluable in boosting my confidence and independence in navigating my career pathway going forward, as well as making a strong and global network of young women.”
Increasing the presence of women in STEM and thereby diversifying the workforce in a way that taps into the widest possible array of talents is essential for many of the challenges facing the world as we head into 2025.
“Take ESB’s commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by 2040 – that will require creative thinking and enhanced collaboration, and that’s only really possible if we have a diverse, equitable and inclusive workforce and culture” said Órla Burke of ESB International.
“If we support the talent pipeline for STEM education and careers, that will increase representation of women at all levels and that’s very encouraging.”
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