How Women Have Impacted Our Industries

Women make Radiall a better company. They make us more innovative, more ambitious, more successful. We see firsthand how female employees contribute to our company as a whole because we work with them every day. But women have impacted far more than our own company—they have transformed the industries we serve. Over the decades, women have contributed to a multitude of technological advancements. Let’s take a look at a few of them.

Women Impacting Our Industries

Most of us know who Amelia Earhart is, but did you know that two of the top five aerospace and defense companies are led by female CEOs? That’s right, Phebe Novakovic and Kathy Warden lead General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman, respectively. Additionally, Leanne Caret is the CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security. When we look at all aerospace and defense companies, we see more women in leadership. Gwynne Shotwell is the president and COO of SpaceX. Elisabeth Smith is the CEO of Acutec Precision Aerospace. Eileen Drake is the CEO of Aerojet Rocketdyne. The list goes on.

Women are impacting the aerospace and defense industries as we speak, and this is nothing new. In the 1930s and 40s, the first female aeronautical engineer, Elsie MacGill, developed the manufacturing processes for building over 1,000 aircraft. In 1981, Jeana Yeager founded Voyager Aircraft, Inc. with Dick Rutan. They made history in 1986 when they flew the maximum circumference of the globe non-stop in nine days. In 1994, Martha King became the first woman to hold every class of pilot and instructor rating, and she is renowned for teaching over half of the pilots in the U.S. In 1997, Jane Garvey became the first woman Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The telecom industry is no exception. Arlene Harris helped shaped the wireless industry through inventing the first unique application of cellular services and helping create the first prepaid cellular service to advocate for more inclusive and accessible wireless capabilities for senior citizens. This year, Christel Heydemann became the first female CEO of Orange, the largest telecom operator in France. Meredith Baker, CEO of CTIA, played a role in pushing 5G expansion in the U.S. Another advocate of 5G is Claire Caminade, the Head of 5G Innovation Product & Partnerships at Digital Catapult.

As you can see, women are making moves in the industries we serve and impacting them for the better…and this post was only the tip of the iceberg. They have been influencing these industries for decades, and we have no doubt their influence will only increase year over year. We are glad to have a front-row seat to the innovative changes they are making every day in the industries we serve.