Women working in STEM career change

The panel discussion cycle led by GMV's female colleagues as part of the Emerge program, whose mission was to raise the profile of the organization’s professional women and give a voice to their careers and experiences in the working environment has just come to an end. The sessions were designed for all GMV professionals to provide professional references, particularly for women, from female colleagues’ personal standpoints.

Emerge (Empowering GMV women) is an internal initiative that was launched in March 2022 by a group of women in GMV’s Space area, who were motivated by the need to make female profiles in the organization more visible and put them in contact with each other The aim is to strengthen their professional positions, share expectations, aspirations, and experiences and provide support in managing possible situations in the work environment where the issue of genders is a triggering factor.

The three sessions, entitled “Women in Galileo,” “Interdisciplinary Women in Space,” and “Our vision, her vision,” were held as hybrid sessions at GMV's Madrid facilities for the onsite attendees and virtually for those attending remotely.

The nine GMV colleagues who made up each three-person discussion panel shared their beginnings in the working world and their professional careers, the motivations to become the professionals they are today, the benefits it has brought to them, and the implications in their lives of the positions they have held throughout their careers. They also discussed issues such as changes in leadership models, professional development, impostor syndrome, adaptation to change, and work-life balance from their personal standpoints.

Additionally, under the umbrella of Emerge, other activities were considered, such as specific training for soft skills intended for women and professional mentoring for women, where female colleagues with more extensive professional profiles support other female coworkers who have recently joined the working world. The program was completed with support group meetings among the program’s participants.

At GMV, we support and promote initiatives like Emerge that promote diversity and equality in all forms. It bears noting that in 2022, GMV launched Be You, the corporate diversity program to actively work on equal opportunities and prevent any discriminatory behavior in the organization, based on five concepts: gender, age, culture, sexual orientation, and disabilities.