Dear All,
In celebration of International Women’s Day this year, the International Network of Women Engineers and Scientists (INWES) would like to join in the 2016 campaign theme, ‘Pledge for Parity.’ Members of INWES can join in and take action by sharing our experiences, passions, times, energies and ideas. We can pledge to help women and girls achieve their ambitions or challenge conscious and unconscious bias, call for gender-balanced leadership, value women and men’s contribution equally, and/or create inclusive and flexible cultures in the science and engineering fields worldwide. The World Economic Forum estimated the achievement of gender parity in the year 2133 which is still more than 100 years away. This is why I believe that it is important that women scientists and engineers join in the endeavor to accelerate the advancement of women. By taking action, we learn from one another, which will eventually help empower ourselves as Women Scientists and Engineers. It is high time that we put into action our collective wisdom which will play key roles in making changes in individual countries, and then on to building a better future worldwide.
Joining in the ‘pledge for parity’ campaign is something that INWES has always believed in. Because INWES hopes that our world becomes safer by being faithful to the basics, is peaceful by pursuing collaboration rather than competition, is sustainable by producing new knowledge, enough to maintain the next generation to sustain a hopeful life, by sharing our resources.
Happy International Women’s Day!
Kong-Joo Lee, Ph.D.
President, INWES