Professional Documents
Culture Documents
minority at work. For younger women who might be discouraged from entering maledominated fields of study due to societal norms, Gwynne Shotwell is certainly a role
model. Senior vice president of SpaceX Tim Hughes says, Shes a rare mix of
engineering talent, business acumen, and likability. That has allowed her to do
extremely amazing things (Hontz 1). Gwynne says, I never felt any issues whatsoever
about being a woman in Tech (Hontz 2). The lack of women in her university
engineering courses never bothered her. She does recall being rejected work at an airconditioning company because, you cant possibly do this job. Therell be heavy
lifting (Hontz 2). However, this is one of the only times Gwynne has felt her gender
interfere with her work.
One of SpaceXs future goals is to enable human life on Mars. To do so, it must
successfully create reusable rockets. This quest for reusability is what Gwynne is
currently involved in at SpaceX, as well as managing day-to-day operations. Hear
Gwynne briefly discuss this reusability goal on CNBC (THIS will be critical for space
travel: SpaceX exec). Gwynne might not be in the position she is today if it werent for
positive support from others. The panelist Gwynne spoke to at the Society of Women
Engineers event in high school certainly had a large impact on her. From there Gwynne
took it upon herself to become a dynamic, successful leader of the aerospace industry.
Gwynnes story conveys the importance of supporting women in technology. Women
apprehensive of STEM fields should not mistake themselves as incapable or
incompatible, for in many cases these are the women we need on the cutting edge.
References
-Hennigan, W.J. "How I Made It: SpaceX Exec Gwynnee Shotwell." Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times, 07 June 2013. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.
-"Average Salary for Spacex Employees." PayScale. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.
-Hyland, Duane. "No Trip To Mars Without Reusable Orbiters."Aerospace America 53.9
(2015): 14. Academic Search Complete. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.
-Abbate, Janet. Recoding Gender: Women's Changing Participation in Computing.
Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2012. Print.
-Space Exploration Technologies Corp. "Company." SpaceX. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct.
2015.
-#90 Gwynne Shotwell." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.
-THIS Will Be Critical for Space Travel: SpaceX Exec. Dir. Fred Imbert. Perf. Gwynne
Shotwell. CNBC. N.p., 12 May 2015. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.
-Hontz, Jenny. "Rocket Ma'am." : Northwestern Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct.
2015.
-Holmes, Mark. "It All Started with a Suit: The Story Behind Shotwell." Via Satellite.
N.p., 21 Apr. 2014. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.