The SPOKE team caught up with Marian D’Auria – Head of Sustainability & Risk at GFG Alliance – as we celebrate International Women’s Day on 8th March, and continue to #EmbraceEquity.

International Women’s Day is an opportunity to celebrate the contribution that women make to our industry. If we are to be successful as a business and an industry, we need to #EmbraceEquity and change the face of the steel industry to make it attractive to a diverse group of people and inspire the next generation.

Women have made an amazing contribution to the steel industry throughout history, from working on the production line during the war, to pioneering new technologies and processes. For instance, Dr Ellen Swallow Richards was the first woman to attend Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and went on to become a renowned industrial and environmental chemist. She conducted research on the properties of steel and other materials, helping to develop new methods for producing high-quality steel.

Another notable example is Stephanie Kwolek who was a chemist at DuPont and invented Kevlar, a strong and lightweight material that is used in a wide range of applications, including body armour, aerospace materials, and sporting equipment. Kwolek’s ground-breaking work has helped to shape the steel industry and advance materials science more broadly.

We have our own group of everyday heroes in the GFG family who are shaping our business and industry, and, in the month of International Women’s Day, we will be profiling just some of the incredible women we have across our businesses and teams. I would encourage everyone to engage in these posts and feel free to add your own everyday heroes to the list. This is all about celebrating our people and the contribution they make to the business and teams around them.

I recently had the pleasure of meeting with our Women’s Network Local Champions around the world who shared their plans for celebrating International Women’s Day. It sounds like there will be some great events, and we’ll showcase those here too in the coming weeks. In the meantime, I wish everyone a happy International Women’s Day and here’s to Embracing Equity.