Leading with Purpose – Mar Edo Torres
Mar Edo Torres, Technical Engineer in Public Works and Master in Transport, Territory and Urban Planning, was recognized with the Women and Traffic Management Award in 2022 awarded by the AITTM. With more than fifteen years of experience in mobility studies and projects, she heads the Mobility and Traffic Management Department of CPS, where she leads a team of more than 35 people with rigor and strategic vision.
What do you think the industry can do to attract more young women into technical careers?
I believe that in recent years many barriers have been broken down and we are seeing more and more women entering technical professions, both in public administration and in business.
In order to continue advancing, it is important to bring these disciplines closer to young people from an early age and to make female referents more visible. I also believe that we must better explain the real impact of these professions. In areas such as mobility and road safety, we are working on challenges closely linked to sustainability, a systemic vision of problems and the use of new high-impact technical and technological tools, and transmitting this purpose can help to awaken vocations.
In addition, today’s major challenges require diverse talent and complementary perspectives, and I believe that we women have a lot to contribute.
What has your experience been like working in a traditionally male-dominated sector such as engineering?
I have been working in the engineering sector for more than 20 years and I have seen a very clear evolution. At the beginning of my career, when the sector was much more masculinized, there was sometimes the feeling of having to constantly prove your professional ability.
I even remember that many women tended to adapt to very masculine codes, for example, when it came to communicating or presenting ourselves, trying to project that same image of authority or firmness.
Over time, the industry has evolved and today there is greater freedom to develop more diverse professional styles. This has also allowed the emergence of skills that many women bring naturally, such as a more integrative vision of projects, a greater sensitivity to the social impact of solutions or a very collaborative way of working in teams.
How important is the visibility of women in technical positions?
Visibility is fundamental because it generates references. When young women see women developing their careers in technical fields or in positions of responsibility, they can more easily imagine themselves on that professional path.
It also helps to normalize the female presence in the sector and to break stereotypes that for a long time have associated technical careers mostly with men. The more referents there are, the more natural it will be for new generations to consider these professions as a real option.
I believe that today it is no longer unusual for girls to identify women as site managers, project managers, or technical specialists in mobility and road safety, but there is still a lot of work to be done because the data tell us that in Spain only about 20% of engineers are women according to the Observatory of Engineering in Spain.
What measures do you think really help drive equity within organizations?
I believe that the key thing is to ensure that talent and opportunities are assessed objectively, with a focus on professional capabilities.
From there, it is important to foster diverse teams and inclusive work environments. Diversity enriches projects because it provides different ways of analyzing challenges and finding more complete solutions. It is also key for organizations to create conditions that allow all people to develop their careers with equal opportunities, promoting access to positions of responsibility, professional support and more open and diverse leadership models.
