The Women's Engineering Society is a

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

professional learned society and networking body for women engineers, scientists and technologists. It was the first professional body set up for women working in all areas of engineering, predating the

Society of Women Engineers The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is an international not-for-profit educational and service organization. Founded in 1950 and headquartered in the United States, the Society of Women Engineers is a major advocate for women in STEM, women in e ...

by around 30 years.

History

The society was formed on 23rd June 1919, after the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, during which many women had taken up roles in engineering to replace men who were involved in the military effort. While it had been seen as necessary to bring women into engineering to fill the gap left by men joining the armed forces, the government, employers, and trades unions were against the continuing employment of women after the war. The

Restoration of Pre-War Practices Act 1919 The Restoration of Pre-War Practices Act 1919 was a British Act of Parliament passed on 2 June 1919, which gave soldiers returning from World War I their pre-war jobs back. The Restoration of Pre-War Practices (no. 3) Bill (UK) had its second rea ...

gave soldiers returning from

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

their pre-war jobs back and meant many women could no longer work in roles they were employed to fill during the war. This led a group of seven women, including Lady Katharine Parsons, her daughter Rachel Parsons, Lady Margaret Moir,

Laura Annie Willson Laura Annie Willson MBE (née Buckley) (15 August 1877 – 17 April 1942) was an English engineer and suffragette, who was twice imprisoned for her political activities. She was one of the founding members of the Women's Engineering Society ...

Eleanor Shelley-Rolls Eleanor Georgiana Shelley-Rolls (9 October 1872 – 15 September 1961) was one of the original signatories of the Women's Engineering Society founding documents. She was a keen hot air balloonist. Early life Rolls was born in Mayfair, Mayfair ...

; Janetta Mary Ornsby and Margaret Rowbotham to form the Women's Engineering Society, with the aim of enabling women to gain training, jobs and acceptance in engineering fields. The Society's first Secretary was Caroline Haslett. Early members in the 1920s and 1930s included Verena Holmes,

Hilda Lyon Hilda Margaret Lyon, MA, MSc, AFRAeS (31 May 1896 – 2 December 1946) was a British engineer who invented the "Lyon Shape", a streamlined design used for airships and submarines. Early life and education Lyon was born in 1896 in Market We ...

and Margaret Partridge. Pilot and engineer, Amy Johnson, who was the first woman to fly solo from the United Kingdom to Australia, was a member of WES and served as president between 1935-37. A registry of members from 1935 shows there were members from across the world, such as the United States of America, including sociologist and industrial engineer

Lillian Gilbreth Lillian Evelyn Gilbreth (; May 24, 1878 – January 2, 1972) was an American psychologist, industrial engineer, consultant, and educator who was an early pioneer in applying psychology to time-and-motion studies. She was described in the 1940s as ...

, and Germany, including

Asta Hampe Asta Hampe (24 May 1907 – 22 October 2003) was a German electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, physicist, economist and statistician. According to '' The Woman Engineer'', Hampe was the first German member of the Women's Engineering Socie ...

and Ilse Knot-ter Meer. The Society celebrated its 95th year in 2014 with the launch of

International Women in Engineering Day International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

(INWED) on 23 June 2014. To this day the Society continues to organise INWED and set the annual theme. The Society celebrated its centenary in 2019 with the launch of the WES Centenary Trail, a project to highlight the historic stories of women engineers.

Work and campaigns

Society members have advised the UK government on evolving employment practices for women. Constituted as a professional society with membership grades based on qualification and experience, the society promotes the study and practice of engineering and allied sciences among women. WES is represented by groups. The work of the groups focuses on: * support to members and women engineers in general, * encouragement of women to study engineering and take up engineering careers, * promotion of corporate gender diversity, * speaking as the collective voice of women engineers. The society produces the journal ''The Woman Engineer'' which was edited by Caroline Haslett in its early years. The journal contained technical articles in its early years but now gives a view of work in engineering disciplines and women's involvement in them. The digital archive of the journal is held by the Institution of Engineering and Technology. The Women's Engineering Society holds an annual conference, a student conference and regional workshops and networking events.

Outreach to schools

In 1969, President Verena Holmes left a legacy to fund an annual lecture to inspire school girls. Run by the Verena Holmes Trust, the first lecture tour was in 1969 during the first UK Women in Engineering Year. It was delivered at various venues to children aged nine to eleven to encourage their interest in engineering, The lectures were given by leading engineers with

Mary Kendrick Mary Patricia Kendrick MBE born Mary Patricia Boak (2 May 1928 – 8 June 2015) was a British tidal engineer who was an expert on silt. She worked on many projects but she is known for leading a team working on the Thames Barrier. She broke a ...

giving the lecture in 1981. Members provided the 'technical women power' for the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) buses that were launched following the WISE Year in 1984, an initiative that continued into the 1990s. In 2014 WES set up an outreach programme called ''Magnificent Women (and their flying machines)'' which replicates the work that women did during the First World War in making aircraft wings, and this was aimed at secondary school girls. The programme was discontinued in 2018 as the Society refocused its campaigns on supporting the engineering industry to be more inclusive.

MentorSET

MentorSET is a mentoring scheme for engineers, inspired by the WES President Petra Gratton (née Godwin) in 2000. The scheme was a collaborative project with national network of women scientists (AWISE). It was a mentoring scheme to help women in their career and to support them back into engineering after a career break. MentorSET has been funded by DTI, the UK Resource Centre for Women in SET, and

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenue ...

. In 2015 the MentorSET programme was relaunched with funding from DECC, now BEIS and Women in Nuclear and is now relevant to women working in science and technology as well as engineering.

Membership

Members are drawn from women who have entered the profession through routes varying from traditional apprenticeship to higher education leading to graduate and further degrees. The participation of male engineers in the society is encouraged. Current membership exceeds 2,000 individuals and over 120 corporate and education partners.

Governance

The Women's Engineering Society is a charitable company, governed by the President and the Board of Directors of the Company, who are also Trustees of the Charity. Day to day operations are delegated to the Chief Executive Officer and staff.

Board of Trustees

President * Dawn Childs FREng Trustees * Paul Cliff * Dr Katherine Critchley * Professor Elena Gaura * Sarah Haslam MBE * Chrisma Jain * Dr Tosha Nembhard * Professor Vince Pizzoni * Susan Robson * Mamta Singhal MBE * Emily Spearman

Chief Executive Officer

* Elizabeth Donnelly

Presidents

Notable historical members

References

External links

*
The Woman Engineer
journal archives
MentorSET

National Women in Engineering Day
{{authority control Engineering societies based in the United Kingdom Institution of Engineering and Technology Organisations based in Hertfordshire Organizations established in 1919 Science and technology in Hertfordshire Stevenage Women in engineering Women's organisations based in the United Kingdom 1919 establishments in the United Kingdom