India, April 11 -- In January 2025, the Haas team's announcement of 33-year-old Laura Mueller as their first female race engineer was more than a landmark moment; it was a stark reminder of the persistent gender gap in high-performance technical fields. Imagine, in a sport with hundreds of race engineers, only one is a woman. While Laura's appointment reflects her undeniable merit, it also illuminates the systemic barriers that continue to sideline women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

The numbers speak volumes: Globally, women constitute a mere 28% of the STEM workforce, according to UNESCO. In India, despite producing a substantial number of female STEM graduates, their participation in the tech workforce l...