Women in tech at Thales
Across Thales, we embrace equity for stronger women, science and societies.
Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, it is a keystone for stronger sciences and thus a more prosperous, equitable society. Unfortunately, the fact is that women remain underrepresented in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, both at school and in the workforce, including at Thales.
Across Thales, we have a responsibility to build an inclusive and equitable workplace, free of bias. We also have a role to play in inspiring girls and women to have a different vision of our activities in order to achieve better gender balance across our activities.
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Girls should be encouraged to do science just as boys are.
We need to demonstrate how the world of science and technology is accessible, eminently collective, and directly connected to societal issues.
We want everyone, but more specifically girls and women, to feel empowered and legitimate in taking on careers in science and contributing to society to the fullest of their potential.
"The world needs more women scientists"
Women Inspiring Women#
Women at Thales are walking in the footsteps of pioneers before them. Each of them is an inspiration, as the fight to strengthen the place of women in STEM is still far from over.
We invite you to discover and share the inspiring messages they have to encourage girls to take up studies and careers in science.
Sophia Joseph, Senior Engineering Manager at Thales in India
Don’t let your gender hold you back. Pursue your passion and your ambitions.
Sophia Joseph leads the avionics services team globally as a Senior Engineering Manager at Thales in India. Just like her two sisters, she was inspired to undertake a career in science by her mother, who pursued her own passion to get a degree in science and become a teacher.
Discover Sophia’s message for stronger science and societies.
Sonu Goel, Vice-President for Navaids and Non-Radar Surveillance at Thales in United States
Science doesn’t create gender stereotypes – people do.
Sonu Goel is Vice-President for Navaids and Non-Radar Surveillance at Thales in United States. Throughout her career, she often took her inspiration from Marie Curie to face the challenge of being the only woman in many boardrooms and executive committees.
Discover Sonu’s message for stronger science and societies.
Julie Cholet, R&D material engineer at Thales Research & Technology
More parity within teams would make science more representative of our society.
Julie Cholet is an R&D material engineer at Thales Research & Technology. She walks in the footsteps of Katie Bouman, an MIT computer engineer who helped capture the first image of a black hole in 2019.
Discover Julie’s message for stronger science and societies.
Dunlin Tan, Director of Thales Research & Technology in Singapore.
Dunlin Tan, Director of Thales Research & Technology in Singapore, explains how MIT’s Mildred Dresselhaus inspired her own career in science.
The groundbreaking discoveries made by Dresselhaus – the first female Institute Professor at MIT – almost half a century ago laid the foundations for the understanding of carbon forms that we have today.
Her research helped develop technology based on thin graphite, which enables electronics to be part of our day-to-day lives.
Julie Grollier, Director of Research at the CNRS/Thales Lab in France.
Julie Grollier, Director of Research at the CNRS/Thales Lab in France, talks about drawing her inspiration from the iconic Marie Curie.
The physicist Marie Curie needs almost no introduction. She carried out pioneering research into radioactivity (a word she herself invented), discovered two elements – radium and polonium –, was the first ever woman to win a Nobel Prize and one of the very few scientists in history to win it in two different fields.
Her revolutionary work overturned established ideas in the fields of physics and chemistry, and shaped the world we live in today.
Anthea Comellini, an R&D engineer.
Anthea Comellini, an R&D engineer specialised in satellite guidance, navigation and control at Thales Alenia Space, talks about the example set for her by Italian engineer Amalia Ercoli-Finzi.
Amalia Ercoli-Finzi has been a pioneering and integral part of the space engineering landscape for over five decades, teaching at the Polytechnic University of Milan – of which she was the first female aeronautical engineering graduate and is now an Honorary Professor – and serving as a scientific advisor for NASA and both the Italian and European space agencies.
Her work has contributed to key space research fields, such as mission design, attitude control and docking manoeuvres.
Maddison Illsley, engineer and Change Manager
Maddison Illsley, a Change Manager working on Thales’s site in Crawley, finds her inspiration in the life and work of pioneering aeronautical engineer Beatrice Shilling.
In the early 1930s, Beatrice Shilling studied engineering at the Victoria University of Manchester, before being recruited by the Royal Aircraft Establishment, the research and development branch of the Royal Air Force. It was there that she designed the RAE restrictor, which prevented flooding of the carburetor in the Rolls Royce engines of the RAF’s Hurricane and Spitfire fighters.
Her contribution to aeronautical engineering played a key role in ensuring Allied victory in the Battle of Britain during the Second World War.
Initiatives at Thales to inspiring the next generation
We deploy many initiatives to increase girl’s and women’s interest, address stereotypical of careers in STEM and inspiring the next-generation to take on careers in STEM. Here’s a few example:
In Australia...
Thales supports the Future Through Collaboration program to increase female representation in STEM careers. Selected employees undertake a 12-month program to develop valuable skills for careers in STEM.
In France...
Thales partners with Elles Bougent, a French non-profit organisation to encourage young women to take up careers in science and technology. More than 450 "Elles bougent" women mentors share their experience of our businesses with young talents.
Thales is also a member of the Cercle InterElles network, which brings together 16 technology companies to promote diversity and professional equality in the scientific and technological sectors in France, with the ambition of creating favorable conditions for gender balance and performance.
In North America and Mexico...
Thales partners supports Technovation Girls, an international competition for girls ages 10 to 18 to develop their innovation skills and their interest in technology, working with mentors from Thales.
In Italy...
Since 2018 Thales Italia partners with Valore D, an Italian non-profit association to promote the equal presence of women and men in business.
In United Kingdom...
Thales partners with Women in Tech and Women in Engineering to attract more women into the organization and working with schools and colleges to encourage more females to get into STEM.