Written by Torsten Kriening, Publisher – SpaceWatch.Global
Berlin, 8th March 2026 – I have written a piece every year for SpaceWatch.Global. Every year, I sit down on this day and think about what to say that hasn’t been said before. And every year, the answer is the same: it doesn’t matter whether it’s been said. It matters that it keeps being said. Loudly. Clearly. Without apology.
Because the world is changing. And not all of that change is moving in the direction of justice.
Let me be direct. We are living through a moment where the language of equality is being reframed as ideology, where leaders in powerful nations are dismantling protections for women under the banner of tradition and so-called common sense. In the United States, across parts of Europe, and in political movements worldwide, there is a coordinated push to turn back the clock – on reproductive rights, on workplace protections, on the very principle that women deserve an equal seat at every table. DEI programmes are being gutted. Gender policies reversed. A new generation is being told the fight for equality was a mistake.
I refuse to be silent about this. And SpaceWatch.Global refuses to be neutral.
We are not neutral on equality. We never have been. We never will be. SDG #5 – Gender Equality – is not a talking point for us. It is a non-negotiable principle. And in a time when conservative forces across the Atlantic and closer to home are repackaging inequality as natural order, it is more important than ever to say: we see through it, and we stand against it.
The space sector is not immune to these currents. For all our talk of looking to the future, our industry still reflects the structures of the past. Women remain underrepresented in technical leadership, underfunded as entrepreneurs, and too often invisible in the narratives we tell about exploration. The pipeline leaks at every stage – from education to early career, from mid-management to the boardroom. The data is unambiguous. The question is whether we have the courage to act on it, especially when the political headwinds make it easier to look the other way.
I choose not to look the other way. I choose to look at the women around me – the women who make SpaceWatch.Global what it is – and say what I feel: gratitude. Deep, honest, personal gratitude.
To Tamara Blagojevic, our Business Development Manager – you are building bridges and opening doors with energy and vision. The future of this company is brighter because of you. To Hibah Iqbal, supporting our business development with dedication and fresh thinking. To Judith Delany, our Head of Editorial Department – you hold the backbone of everything we publish. To Laura Todd and Yvette Gonzalez, our Senior Advisors and Editors – your experience, judgment, and editorial sharpness make us better every single day. To Joana Nägler, our Social Media Specialist – you carry our voice into the digital world with creativity, consistency, and real care for our community. To Daniela Jovic, Rosa Schmidt, and Kelly Soverns – our contributors who enrich our pages/Space Cafe Clips with perspectives, commitment, and the courage to tell the stories that matter.
You are not supporting roles. You are the engine. You are the standard. You are the reason SpaceWatch.Global can look the space industry in the eye and say: we practice what we preach.
To every woman in the space sector – from the engineer testing hardware at midnight, to the policy advisor shaping regulations in Brussels, to the young student who just submitted her first paper on orbital mechanics, to the entrepreneur pitching her startup for the fifteenth time – know this: your work is not just valuable. It is essential. You are not filling a quota. You are filling a void that the industry ignored for far too long.
And to anyone who thinks the fight for equality is over, or unnecessary, or a distraction from “real” issues: look around. Look at who is still missing from the rooms where decisions are made. Look at who is still paid less for the same work. Look at who is still expected to prove twice as much to be given half the credit. Then tell me the fight is over.
It is not over. It may never be over. But that is precisely why we keep fighting. Not because victory is guaranteed, but because the fight itself defines who we are.
Happy International Women’s Day. Today and every day, SpaceWatch.Global stands with the women who carry the stars on their shoulders.
Torsten Kriening
Publisher, SpaceWatch.Global
