About INWED
International Women in Engineering Day, brought to you by Women’s Engineering Society (WES) will celebrate its 13th year in 2026 and we’ll once again be promoting the amazing work that women engineers across the globe are doing. This year’s theme is #EngineeringIntelligence. INWED gives women engineers around the world a profile when they are still hugely under-represented, with 2021 figures indicating that in the UK only 16.5% of engineers are women. As the only platform of its kind, it plays a vital role in encouraging more young women and girls to take up engineering careers.
Background
International Women in Engineering Day began in the UK in 2014 as a national campaign from the Women’s Engineering Society. Since then, INWED has grown enormously, receiving UNESCO patronage in 2016 and going truly global the following year.
National Women in Engineering Day (a UK initiative) was founded on 23 June 2014 by Dawn Bonfield MBE during her time as President of the Women’s Engineering Society (WES) to celebrate its 95th anniversary.
In 2017, National Women in Engineering Day became international for the first time due to the interest and enthusiasm developed by the international audience and participants in the previous years. International Women in Engineering Day (INWED) was born to enable the celebration of women in engineering to become global.
2025 Impact Highlights
- More than 1.6B total impressions
- More than 2k new followers on social media
- global media coverage
- 1.6B reach on #InternationalWomenInEngineeringDay
- 125M Reach on #INWED25
- 404M Reach on #TogetherWeEngineer
WES are delighted to announce that the theme for INWED 2026 is #EngineeringIntelligence
23 June 2026
Engineering Intelligence
#INWED26
Target Groups:
- Government
- Education
- Corporate
- Professional Engineering Institutions
- Other companies and organisations in the Sector
- Individuals
- Parents
- Special interest networks and groups
- Press
WES Background
The Women’s Engineering Society (WES) is an charity, founded in 1919 at the end of the First World War, when women who had been employed in technical fields found it difficult, if not impossible, to continue working as engineers. A change in the law to return women engineers to the home just as their sisters were admitted into the civil service and legal professions, led to the establishment of WES by pioneering and influential women.
WES has worked tirelessly for over a hundred years to ensure equality for women in engineering. Today WES’ mission is to support women in engineering to fulfil their potential and support the engineering industry to be inclusive.
- Women: Support women to achieve their potential as engineers, applied scientists and leaders and to reward excellence.
- Education: Encourage and promote the education, study and application of engineering.
- Sustainability: Work with organisations and influencers to promote gender diversity and equality in the workplace and sustain the historic legacy and future effectiveness of the Women’s Engineering Society.
