Why are there so few Women in 3D printing, and can we change that?

3D printing is an innovative, fast-growing market which is predicted to grow exponentially in the next 10 years. However, it is also a male dominated industry, with only approximately 13% of workers being women. Why is 3D printing such a male-dominated industry, and how can more women be encouraged to get involved in additive manufacturing? To find out, we spoke to several prominent women in the 3D printing industry about how they got involved in the industry, the challenges they faced as a women in the industry, and what advice they would give to women who want to get involved.

The women we spoke to are Nina Hoff – CEO at byFlow, Sylvia Heisel – CEO at Heisel, Monica Smith – Application Development Consultant at EOS, and Amy Karle – bioartist and creator at amykarle.com.

Amy Karle, bioartist & 3D sculptor, giving a talk at Salzburg Global Seminar. Cover picture photo credit: Salzburg Global Seminar/Herman Seidl.

3DN: How did you first get involved in 3D printing?

Based on the answers, we can conclude that some great ways to get involved in 3D printing include internships, going to events such as Maker Faires, and education in the area. This is shown as for Sylvia Heisel, “the first 3D printer I saw in real life was at MakerFaire in 2011. At that time desktop FDM printers were only available as kits and the materials were very limited but it was one of those light-bulb moments when you see the potential of a technology.”