Women in Science and Engineering: The importance of visibility
Keywords:
Women’s contributions in STEM fields, unique conferences (ICWES), history of these conferences and organisations.Abstract
The article discusses how to increase the visibility of women scientists and engineers and their contributions in these fields. One way to discover women is to find papers describing their work and their lives. The Canadian Institute for Women in Science and Engineering-L’Institut canadien pour les femmes en ingénierie et en sciences (CIWES-ICFIS) began to collaborate with the University of Ottawa Library to encourage women to donate their papers. The project began in 2014 and has now close to 500 links with such donations in archives across Canada. Historians, researchers, and writers can find women and include them in their books on science, engineering, and technology. Another important source of information on women’s participation in science and engineering is through their technical presentations at conferences. A conference series: International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists (ICWES), was unique in several ways: It was attended mostly by women, and presentations could be on a technical topic or on gender issues; it was held in various countries around the world between 1964 and today. A book has just been published on this extraordinary adventure.
