Set up in 2014 to celebrate the 95th anniversary of the Women’s Engineering Society this national, now international, awareness day focuses attention on the amazing careers in engineering and technical roles for girls, and celebrates the achievements of outstanding women engineers.
In 2016 the day included over 550 separate events being held on the day, over 350 schools across the UK were involved in NWED celebrations, and over 1,500 downloads of the resource pack from the NWED website. The campaign reached over 1million people on social media with the hashtag #nwed2016 receiving over 15,000 posts on the day which saw it trend for around eight hours on Twitter, second only to EU referendum-related posts.
Kirsten Bodley, interim CEO of Women's Engineering Society (WES) said: "We're really pleased to have so much support for International Women in Engineering Day this year and aim to increase our reach to a wider audience with our theme of 'Men as Allies'; raising the profile of the opportunities available to women in engineering."
According to the WES, even without official global promotion, the previous years have seen participation from Kuwait, India, Ireland and South Africa, and more countries made further enquiries. Already in 2017 enquiries have been made from the United States, Canada, Ireland and Malaysia and these countries are expected to support the day with events.
Through the International Network of Women Engineers and Scientists (INWES) the WES is encouraging other European countries, particularly those with no local date celebrating women engineers, to take up INWED.
WES and The Daily Telegraph will announce the Top 50 Women in Engineering Under 35 on 23 June. This will be coordinated by the Daily Telegraph and with partners including Bechtel, Scottish Power and BAE Systems. Nominations are open now and will close on 12 May 2017.
