On International Women’s Day, aerospace engineer Alifiya Arastu of Chicago tells us about succeeding in an industry in which women have traditionally been underrepresented

The Dawoodi Bohras place significant emphasis on equal access to education for males and females, as well as female empowerment. To mark International Women’s Day 2022, the Dawoodi Bohras of Chicago talked to Alifiya Arastu, an aerospace engineer at Collins Aerospace in Rockford.  Arastu discussed her background and her experiences as an engineer in a male-dominated field, and gave us her thoughts on promoting women, not only in the workplace and in communities, but in schools, colleges, and universities. 

What do you do for a living and what does your normal workday look like?

I have a degree in aerospace engineering, and I work at Collins Aerospace in Rockford. My work routine is rather like an investigation. Broken parts will come to our materials lab and then we have different equipment we use to determine what a material is and what phase it was in when it failed. Using all those resources, we try to figure out why something broke, why it failed, and then what we can change in the design to prevent issues.

What did you do before starting at Collins? 

Before working there, I was working for a PCB company that makes motherboards used in computers, but I have an aerospace degree, so I wanted to be closer to the aerospace industry where I could better apply my knowledge in the field.

What drove you to pursue a career in engineering? 

There were a lot of things. When I was a young child, I always wanted to be an astronaut and that is kind of where this idea came from. I took a lot of engineering classes in high school, and I did well in them, so I pursued it. I did not realize until I reached college how difficult and male-driven it is. In college, I was one of seven women in my program, so it was very unbalanced. I have always had this passion for space, and I have always followed space news. It has always been something I have tried to be involved with, so this is my way of staying in the field.

In 2019 over 86% of employed aerospace engineers were men. What have your experiences been like in such a male dominated field?

It’s tough. It does feel a lot of the time that being a woman means you have to work harder. You’re trying to prove yourself, you’re trying to make sure that all the guys in the room think you are smart enough. That’s something I have dealt with every day. There are a lot of organizations within colleges that help with that specifically for women in STEM and in engineering as well, such as the Society of Women Engineers - or SWE - which I am involved in. But there is a lot of work to be done. In general, when you are in a male-dominated field, you are looked down upon in a way. You have to really work hard to show them that you belong there.  In college it helped that since there were not a lot of women in the program, we stuck together. You have to get in the mindset that I am going to be in a lot of group projects with men and you have to tailor the way you speak and advocate for yourself in those situations. 

How has this changed as you have moved forward in your career? Has it gotten easier? More of the same? 

I think it has gotten easier.  I have a lot more practice since I have been doing this for eight years, so you get used to that kind of thinking and the way you are speaking with men. Also, in a professional environment it is different. In college everyone is a teenager, everyone is young, while in a professional environment it has been a lot better. Everyone is respectful. I have not had any horrible experiences since I started working and I have gained more knowledge to be able to speak up for myself if something is said or happening that I do not agree with. I have learned to advocate for myself in those situations where I feel comfortable saying “oh I think we need to change things around” and I feel more comfortable speaking up. That definitely is because of all the practice I have had. 

Tell us about some of the organizations you were involved with in college. Were you able to continue your participation after college? 

I started getting involved in women’s organizations in college and am still active in some of those. There are also resources available to women through my work at Collins Aerospace, such as LIFT, that I am involved with through the company.

At my community college, I had an amazing physics professor, and we started a women in engineering campus group, so I have always been passionate about these organizations and I hope to continue to be involved in them. 

Are there women in leadership at Collins Aerospace? 

Yes, there are a few.  It is still not 50-50 even when you look at Collins executive leadership. There are only about three out of the 15 that are women. Collins has been trying to improve this. Whenever there is an opportunity to bring a woman in, they highlight that. I think the best thing they can do is to continue bringing women in. The other thing is that, even though there are women in positions higher up, it is not in the engineering roles it is more HR and communications – the usual places you will see a lot of women. It is not ideal, but they are trying. I have a few women mentors within the company who are in managerial roles for different engineering groups, but in my group, my manager is a male, his manager is a male, so it’s not that many that I know specifically in managerial roles. 

What do you see for yourself in the future?

I am hoping to transition into a managerial role, and I want to break that stigma. I am planning to work on an MBA, but this is more of a five-year plan.