Supporting Women in the Material Services Industry

At thyssenkrupp, we celebrate the vital role that women play in our industry and society overall.  Women make up a large part of the workforce, lead groundbreaking innovations, and launch new services and products. Despite their achievements throughout history, women’s contributions are often overlooked in curriculums and industry discussions. For this very reason, we celebrate International Women’s Day and commemorate the cultural, political, and socioeconomic achievements of women.

Last year, Copper and Brass Sales highlighted women in leadership as part of the Women’s History Month celebration. This year, thyssenkrupp Material Services will be hosting an internal discussion for all employees addressing the following question: Why is it women take the helm when times are tough? Two women who are leading the way, getting involved and getting things done will be leading the discussion as we help to Break the Bias, the theme of Women’s History Month this year.

In addition to the virtual event, thyssenkrupp Materials NA, wants to take this opportunity to celebrate a new approach that women in our company have towards self-improvement. In 2021, a passionate group of women from the thyssenkrupp Material Services team founded a new women’s network called Women@MX. This group launched as part of the efforts to recognize and support women within our industry and our organization.

"The idea behind the Women@MX Network started with the realization that we found ourselves to be one of the very few women in most management level meetings. It was then and there, when we actually understood what this meant and could not fathom the fact that there were so many highly talented women in our company who did not seem to be as visible as they deserved to be. Based on our own experiences within our careers, we made a promise to ourselves to dedicate our efforts to provide a space in which women at thyssenkrupp Material Services can support each other and thrive throughout their careers," said the founders of the Women@MX Network, Barbara Gregor (CFO Materials Trading), Ilse Henne (COO Material Services), and Nadine Rittner (Head of Legal/General Counsel Material Services).

This newly founded network supports women at thyssenkrupp in various ways. Women@MX hosts information sessions by internal and external speakers to cover studies on diversity and inclusion. The goal is to give women more knowledge, including data and benchmarks they can review to gain a competitive advantage in their professional and personal development.

Besides these valuable member benefits, Women@MX launched a pilot coaching and mentoring program. They aim to unlock the mentees’ full potential by guiding them on conflict resolution, addressing common career roadblocks, figuring out how to create new opportunities for themselves, and more. It is a great program, perfect for women during transition and professional stretch periods.

In essence, Women@MX aims to create a safe space for women to engage in honest conversations about matters relevant to them. They can build a network of trusted allies that helps them advance in their career and personal life. It’s groups like these within the organization that bring people together in the workplace and instill growth in the company.

If you’re considering a career with a global company that values all of our employees while focusing on diversity and inclusion, look no further. At thyssenkrupp, we take pride in holding ourselves to the highest standards through integrity, credibility, reliability, and consistency in everything we do. To top it all off, we focus on employee development and put our employee’s health and workplace safety as our top priority. Explore our career site today for available job openings.