International Women's Day 2021 | MSP

Marianne Whitfield – Director of Development

What do you love most about your job?
As MSP’s Director of Development, I have responsibility for our product development strategies, and managing our various teams of software engineers who work on our products. I love the day-to-day variety of what I do, and the fact that I’m working on some really innovative products based on emerging technologies that will have a massive impact on the automation of manufacturing processes across the world.

Which woman/women inspire you the most in terms of your career?
I’m inspired by anyone who demonstrates a real passion for what they do, and works tirelessly to achieve their goals. My mum’s dedication to her work as a GP inspired me from an early age and I have four sisters who are all leaders in their own fields. I’ve also met a lot of really strong women throughout my career who I now call friends and who inspire and motivate me everyday.

What advice would you give to women entering roles in the manufacturing / engineering industry?
Be yourself, know your worth, and don’t ever let ‘imposter syndrome’ win. Women bring a different mindset to technical problem solving that is often based on intuition rather than logic. You don’t have to have a PHD level engineering to be able to solve real-world problems.

The theme for International Women's Day this year is ‘Choose to Challenge’ surrounding inequality. The gender inequality within manufacturing is well known, how do you think the industry could improve this?
I’ve lived with gender inequality throughout my career in tech, business and now manufacturing. ‘Choose to Challenge’ is a great theme because I’ve always had to challenge people’s perceptions of me and my abilities – often because they see a woman in front of them rather than a man.

For a start, I’d ban the phrase ‘She’ll never get her pretty head around that’!