About INWED
International Women in Engineering Day, brought to you by Women’s Engineering Society (WES) will celebrate its 10th year in 2023 and we’ll once again be promoting the amazing work that women engineers across the globe are doing. This year’s theme is #MakeSafetySeen. 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 was launched for the first time in the UK on 23 June 2014 by 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.
2022 Highlights
- More than 289k impressions on Twitter from @INWED1919
- The campaign recorded a potential reach of 526 million and at for a period during the day was the top trending subject on Twitter
- We received messages support on social media from F1, The IET, UK Government Equalities Office, Petronas Motor Sports, Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, the European Space Agency, Rolls Royce Cars, Red Arrows, Royal Navy and many, many more
- The event sparked over 20,000 individual conversations online
- We received more than 1700 enquiries and downloads from the INWED website
- INWED 2021 was featured in more than 100 Global Media stories
- There was over 100 dedicated INWED events around the world, listed on the INWED website
This year WES are delighted to announce that the theme for INWED is #MakeSafetySeen. We’re profiling the best, brightest and bravest women in engineering, those women who #makesafetyseen and are helping to build towards a brighter future.
INWED’s aim is to encourage all groups to think about organising their own events in support of the day, and link them together for maximum impact through the use of the INWED logo/campaign, corresponding website, and supporting resources.
23 June 2023
MAKE SAFETY SEEN
#INWED23
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 English 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.
