IEEE Women in Engineering Membership On the Rise

It’s been a busy three years since IEEE Women in Engineering celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2022.

WIE facilitates the recruitment and retention of women in technical disciplines around the world. It also works to inspire girls to pursue an engineering career. There are student chapters at universities around the globe. Men may join the affinity group as well.

Women make up less than a third of the world’s workforce in technology-related fields, according to a report by the World Bank Group.

WIE has introduced several programs focused on increasing the number of women in the science, technology, engineering, and math fields. The new initiatives include grants and leadership programs, and several contests have been launched to encourage and support female students who are considering a STEM career.

The group’s hard work is paying off. Winnie Ye, the current WIE chair and an electronics professor at Carleton University, which is just south of Ottawa, reports that, as of February, the number of members and student members was up over the same period last year. There are more than 28,800 members, a year-over-year increase greater than 17 percent. Student membership, at nearly 21,000, is up by roughly the same percentage. There are now more than 1,100 affinity groups.

“Despite this growth, attracting and retaining paying members remains a challenge, particularly as students transition to professional membership,” Ye says. “Ensuring long-term engagement requires demonstrating clear value through career development, networking, and leadership opportunities.”

A day of celebration, grants, and leadership training

Many of the new programs were launched under Celia Shahnaz’s leadership. The WIE committee’s first elected chair, Shahnaz served in 2023 and 2024. In 2022 the committee made the chair an elected position.

Shahnaz has been a WIE volunteer for more than 20 years. She established the first WIE group in the IEEE Bangladesh Section in 2010 and became its first chair. The IEEE senior member is a professor of electrical and electronic engineering at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, in Dhaka.

She says she is most proud of bringing back the annual IEEE WIE Day, held on 29 June, the date the group was formally established in 1997.

“The day is a member-engaging event targeting membership development and membership retention,” Shahnaz says. Activities include networking events, seminars, and workshops.

This year’s theme is Pioneering Safe Cyberspace: Bridging Technology and Light for Security.

For some groups, one day is not enough, so WIE Day events stretch out over several weeks. The inaugural event held in 2023 featured more than 120 activities worldwide. The number nearly doubled last year, with over 230 events. This year’s celebrations are scheduled to kick off on 23 June, to coincide with International Women in Engineering Day, then end on 7 July.

The IEEE WIE Family Cares grant program was established to financially assist members with caregiving duties so they can attend an IEEE conference. A grant provides up to US $1,000 to cover expenses related to caring for children, senior citizens, and family members who are disabled. The grant is sponsored by the IEEE Foundation.

To keep its members updated on industry trends, as well as research results and their practical applications, WIE has partnered with several IEEE societies and councils to offer a virtual Distinguished Lecturers program. More than 20 groups have provided speakers, including the Computer Society, Power Electronics Society, and Sensors Council.

“I want to really strengthen WIE leadership with the local community so that we can provide more targeted resources and support women.” —Winnie Ye

There’s also the new Industry Experts Network, a global database of industry professionals, researchers, and leaders who can be called upon to participate in an event.

“For any of our events, we can access this list of amazing people, who we can ask to give talks and offer workshops and seminars,” Ye says. Several WIE programs are focused on providing women with leadership skills. Less than 10 percent of women hold positions such as CIO, CTO, and IT manager, or serve as technical team leaders, according to this year’s Women in Tech Stats report.

The WIE International Leadership Summits, which are held around the world, provide opportunities for networking, mentorship, and collaboration. Eight were held last year, and seven are scheduled for this year in countries including Jordan, Pakistan, Poland, and the United States.

The WIE Forum USA East helps its attendees develop and improve their leadership skills through talks by successful leaders. This year’s event is scheduled to be held from 6 to 8 November in Arlington, Va.

Ye says she is most excited about the return of WIE’s International Leadership Conference. After a two-year absence, the event is scheduled to be held on 15 and 16 May in San Jose, Calif. The theme is Accelerating Leadership in an AI-Powered World. Registration is now open.

STEM-related contests

Several contests have been launched to encourage young women to pursue a STEM career, Shahnaz says. Women make up about 35 percent of STEM graduates—a gender disparity that hasn’t changed in the past 10 years, according to UNESCO’s 2024 Global Education Monitoring Report.

Held for the first time in 2023, the WIE Climate Tech Big Idea Pitch competition encourages female engineering students and researchers to be entrepreneurial and is designed to increase the number of technical startups led by women.

“I really wanted to inspire women to build their capacity using their technical knowledge and professional skills to be a startup founder,” Shahnaz says. “We wanted them to come up with a solution to climate-change-related problems and showcase their business ideas and models. We also wanted to nurture the talent of women in all membership grades including senior members, Fellows, and life Fellows.”

In the 2023 contest, a team of engineering students from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology won first place in the impact category for its design of a bamboo filter for diesel engines.

There were 60 submissions that first year, and the number doubled last year. The deadline for submissions for this year’s contest will be announced soon.

Capitalizing on the popularity of manga comics and graphic novels with young people, WIE launched a competition in 2023 to find the best-written manga that centered on Riko-chan, a fictional character who is a preuniversity student. Riko-chan uses STEM tools to help solve everyday problems. More than 40 people participated in the 2023 contest, and there were 81 submissions last year. Their stories are available to read online, and many have been translated into nine languages including French, Hindi, and Spanish.

“We see this contest as an opportunity to showcase the diverse role models in engineering technology,” Ye says. “The goal is to spark curiosity among our younger audience and make STEM fields more relatable and more exciting for them.”

This year’s manga competition is now accepting submissions. Check out the rules and deadlines on the WIE website.

Mentoring and outreach programs

A new mentoring program is in the works, Ye says.

“We want to really create an active mentor-mentee matching and engagement platform within the WIE community,” she says.

As part of her vision for a more engaged and inclusive community, she has launched the WIE Ambassador program. The initiative is designed to empower dedicated WIE members to advocate for IEEE’s mission globally. The ambassadors can promote WIE initiatives, organize local events, and inspire more women to pursue STEM careers, Ye says.

She emphasizes the importance of expanding WIE’s presence in underrepresented regions such as China and South Africa.

“During my term,” she says, “I’m committed to expanding our presence in these regions. I want to really strengthen WIE leadership with the local community so that we can provide more targeted resources and support women. We want to make sure that they are aware of us and become more active.”