Women’s Contribution to Science and Technology through ICWES Conferences

This book discusses the legacy of the conference series The International Conferences of Women Engineers and Scientists (ICWES), which spans the second half of the Twentieth Century and the beginning of the twenty-first. The book first discusses how, at a time when there were few women engineers and scientists, a group of women organized a conference, in June 1964 in New York, which attracted 486 women. They presented their scientific achievements and discussed how to attract more women in STEM. This effort was carried out by volunteers, continuing the ICWES conferences over a period of 59 years. The authors discuss the organizers, the hosting societies, the scientific content, the changes in issues over time, and how the continuity has endured. The authors also discuss the importance of global involvement, shown through past conferences inlocations such as USA, UK, Italy, Poland, France, India, Ivory Coast, Hungary, Japan, Canada, and Korea. The authors also outline how the efforts were aided by the development of a not for profit Canadian corporation, the International Conference of Women in Sciences and engineering (INWES), which ensures the continuation of the conference series. Claire Deschênes and Monique Frize ensured that the conference database was digitalized and is now available at the Canadian Archive of Women in STEM, University of Ottawa Library, with the hope that researchers will continue to explore this rich database. As an important part of the Women in Science and Engineering book series, the work hopes to inspire women and men, girls and boys to study and work in STEM fields. This book is important historically because it documents a unique adventure created by women in STEM through vision and leadership. Their efforts established modes of networking and sharing their contributions in science, technology, and on gender issues.