A woman engineer: What December 6 means to me

December 6 is the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women in Canada. Established in 1991 by the Canadian government, the day marks the anniversary of the murders in 1989 of 14 young women at l'École Polytechnique de Montréal. They died because they were women.

Katarina Ilic, a 2013 nanotechnology engineering graduate, reflects on what December 6 means to her as a woman engineer and co-founder of Voltera. The award-winning company developed the Voltera V-One, a custom circuit board printer. 

As a woman engineer, what does December 6 mean to you?

I first heard about the December 6 tragedy when I started studying engineering in 2008. I remember feeling overwhelming empathy for the women because they were just like me and my classmates. They were women who wanted to be future innovators, builders, entrepreneurs and inventors and had their opportunities horrifically taken away.

It’s been 27 years since the tragedy at l'École Polytechnique de Montréal. Why do you think it’s still meaningful to mark the day?

It is important to mark these types of tragedies to ensure that they are not forgotten and so that we, as a society, have a better understanding of how we can take precautionary measures to filter out hate and prejudice. Those 14 women were daughters, sisters and significant others, who were trying to make a difference in the world through the art of problem solving. By commemorating them each year, their relatives, loved ones and others reflect on the harm extreme prejudice can cause.

What role do you feel women engineers have in today’s society?

Women are currently underrepresented in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) fields. There are simply not enough of us. This is starting to change, as we see more women entering physical sciences, however engineering and computer sciences are still trailing.

I feel that female engineers have a strong role to play by leading as examples. We need to focus on the things that are within our control, work hard, and show by way of example that engineering is a  welcoming and fascinating field for both men and women. One day your hard work may be renowned and a little girl somewhere will see it or hear about it, and say: "That can be me!”

In fourth year, you co-founded Voltera with three classmates who were male engineering students.  Why do you think it’s important to have both men and women working and contributing together in a startup? 

In a startup company, culture is everything. The culture is set early on and determines how the company will function, work and communicate as more people join and your team grows. It is important to have a woman’s perspective when developing this culture so that you can create an environment that will be attractive to female hires. If you don't create a culture that is comfortable to women, you will lose an enormous percentage of talented applicants. And what a shame that would be.