"...If in your employment practices you ignore 85 percent of the newly available talent in this country, how are you going to be a great company? How are you going to compete against companies that recruit from the country's entire pool of talent? And so, if for no other reason than self-interest, we ought to do more to maintain a diverse workforce."
Norm Augustine
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Lockheed Martin 

List of Accomplishments

Here is some of the work the Global Alliance has accomplished to achieve its mission:

     
  • 2006   Highlights of Successful International Initiatives for Gender Equity in the Science and Engineering Workforce will be published by Kluwer Academic Publishers: The Netherlands. There are examples of best practices and strategies worldwide that have been successful in increasing women’s participation in science and engineering; however, only a few efforts have been made to share these practices worldwide. This paper highlights both exemplary and promising practices in research, programs, and policies in most regions of the world.

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  • August 26-29, 2005 Seoul, Korea  ICWES 13 The International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists, is a dynamic international conference for women engineers, scientists and researchers under the theme of "Women Engineers and Scientists: Main Force to Reshape the Future World". It provides an opportunity for all participants to interact, exchange thoughts, ideas, and information that are pertinent to the issues for women in these fields. The Global Alliance gave a presentation.

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  • June 12-14, 2005 in Baltimore, Maryland  CWIT The First International Symposium on Women and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) took place in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Two hundred and fifty participants representing six continents and 28 developing and developed countries, including leaders from business, government, non-government agencies, and education, gathered to explore concrete ways to increase girls' and women's participation and leadership with Information and Communication Technology in order to effect economic, social, and political change. Dr. Suzanne G. Brainard, co-director of the Global Alliance, moderated a panel.

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  • 2005   Representation on the planning board of the 2008 World Engineer’s Convention.

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  • 2004, 2000  World Engineering Convention, Women’s Forum Global Alliance hosted Women’s Forum at the 2000 and 2004 World Engineers’ Conventions in collaboration with local engineering societies.
             -Shanghai, China November 2004.
             -Hannover, Germany June 2000.
                  
  • March 2004   Beijing +10 meeting Global Alliance co-hosted an event to raise awareness of women’s contribution to science and technology.

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  • 2003   WFEO Capacity-building Representation on the board of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO) Capacity-building Committee and chair of subcommittee to standardize data collection world-wide. Ongoing participation in WFEO Capacity building Committee 2008 World Engineering Convention Planning.

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  • December 2002   Expert Panel Global Alliance sponsored an Expert Panel Meeting on Women in Engineering and Science at UNESCO.

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  • 2002   African Women in Engineering and Science Development of a web-based information resource for women engineering societies in Egypt, Mali, and Nigeria. Funded by the Engineering Information Foundation.

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  • July 2002  ICWES 12 Global Alliance sponsored a panel and other events at the 12th International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists (ICWES 12), in July 2002.

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  • 2002, 2000  IGEPT Ongoing joint U.S./Sweden research project focused on recruitment and retention of women engineers in higher education and the workforce. The major topics of discussion were the value and benefits of women in leadership positions and on the integration of gender into the engineering design process and strategies for making infrastructural changes.

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  • 13-14 February 2002 in Boston,  Massachusetts: The Global Alliance for Diversifying the Workforce in Science and Engineering held a study group meeting to develop a joint United States/Sweden initiative to improve gender equality in the engineering and technological workforce. This meeting was held in conjunction with the annual AAAS conference. Approximately forty representatives from Sweden and the United States attended the interactive panels and discussions. The major topics of discussion were the value and benefits of women in leadership positions and on the integration of gender into the engineering design process and strategies for making infrastructural changes.

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  • 2002   Representation on the INWES board.

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  • 1-6 July 2001 in Copenhagen,  Denmark: GASAT 10 Conference: World Wide Wisdom- socially responsible and gender inclusive Science and Technology was the tenth conference held by Gender And Science And Technology (GASAT).  GASAT Association, which is an international association of people concerned with issues arising from interactions between gender and science and technology.  The goal of the tenth GASAT conference was to examine how informal and indigenous scientific and technological knowledge issues may be integrated in and made useful to formal education within science and technology.  The Global Alliance gave a presentation at this conference.

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  • 21-24 April 2001 in Alexandria, VA: 2001 JOINT NAMEPA/WEPAN NATIONAL CONFERENCE: Co-Champions for Diversity in Engineering explored ideas to increase the participation of women and minorities in the field of engineering. Presentations and discussion groups discussed collaborations between industry/education/government, research and evaluations studies, factors affecting the under-representation of faculty and admission and retention of students, international programs, and training materials. The Global Alliance gave a presentation.

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  • 15-20 February 2001 in San Francisco, CA: The Global Alliance co-sponsored this year's Women in Science meeting, titled "Advancing the Participation of Women in Science, Engineering, and Technology in a Global Context." This meeting focused on the recommendations of two reports on the participation of women in science, one from CAWMSET and the other from ETAN. The annual Women in Science meeting was one of several events held that day, in conjunction with the 2001 AWIS Annual Meeting.

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  • 21-30 August 2000 in Stockholm, Sweden: The Global Alliance shared its expertise at the Building and Sustaining Infrastructure for Gender-Empowered Partnerships in the Technological fields (IGEPT 2000) held under the auspices of the County Governors of Stockholm and Gavleborg. The goals of IGEPT 2000 were to discuss gender perspectives and women action programs in the engineering and technical fields; entrepreneurship, partnership and leadership; and, technology and engineering education. In addition, the Global Alliance signed a formal partnership agreement with the Ministry of Industry in Sweden.  Read the full report or executive summary of the IGEPT 2000 meeting.

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  • 19-21 June 2000 in Hannover, Germany: The Global Alliance co-hosted an international forum, "Women in Engineering and Science" at the World Engineers Convention during EXPO 2000. In partnership with the Women in Engineering Profession Area of the German Association of Engineers (VDI), this forum, held on 21 June 2000, focused on strategies and best practices for recruitment and retention in science and engineering in higher education institutions and advancement of women scientists and engineers in the workplace.  A formal letter of cooperation was also signed between the Global Alliance and VDI. View the conference abstracts and final report. 

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  • 5-6 June 2000 in New York, NY: The Global Alliance hosted a "Forum on Women in Science and Technology" to complement the UN's Beijing +5 Review Conference on progress made in Beijing. It highlighted the critical role that women's involvement in S & T issues play in the twelve areas of concern from Beijing. Report to be published.

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  • 21 Feb 2000 in Washington, DC: The Global Alliance held a one-day working session In conjunction with the annual American Association for the Advancement of Science conference titled, "Science in an Uncertain Millennium," in February 2000. Organizations across the world attended to share their perspectives on global diversity.

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  • October 1999: Seattle, WA. Women & Minorities in Trade & Technology Forum.  Sponsored by the Seattle Host Organization for the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference. Forum report available here.

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  • July 1999: Brussels, Belgium.  "Women & Science: Networking the Networks."  Hosted by the European Commission, Directorate - General: Science, Research and Development.
  • Accra, Ghana.  GASAT Ninth International Conference.

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  • June 1999: Budapest, Hungary. Collaborators of the Global Alliance participated in the six-day World Conference on Science organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the International Council for Science. The major products, adopted by the conference included two consensus documents, a Declaration on Science and the Use of Scientific, Knowledge and Science Agenda-Framework for Action, include strong statements about the commitment to encourage more female participation in science and engineering fields. Dr. Shirley Malcolm and Ms. Yolanda S. George summarize the statements regarding gender in this paper.

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  • February 1999:Aachen, Germany. A presentation on the Global Alliance was made at the Aachen Technical University where presidents, deans and chairs of departments in engineering were present. A very enthusiastic audience expressed its interest in the Alliance and in increasing the participation of women students and faculty. The University is particularly interested in technical assistance and training.
  • Lyngby, Denmark. The Rector of the Danish Technical University hosted a two-day Global Alliance working session with representatives from industry, education and professional associations. With eight countries represented, the focus was on further clarification of the meaning of diversity; an in-depth discussion of the potential services of the Global Alliance; a proposal for the Alliance to have a presence at conferences already scheduled; and a discussion about the organizational structure of the Alliance. The outcomes of the meeting included specific action steps for each organization to further explore the possibilities of participation and the scheduling of another meeting in Denmark at the end of September 1999. A working paper was produced.

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  • January 1999: Anaheim, California. An Inaugural Planning Conference for Diversifying the Workforce in S&E was held in conjunction with the 1999 Annual AAAS Meeting. The purpose of this meeting was to more formally shape the direction and the future activities of the Global Alliance and to explore different organizational structures. Professionals representing private foundations, educational institutions, professional associations, industry and government worldwide were invited.

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  • 1999: Budapest, Hungary Participation at UNESCO/ICSU World Conference on Science.

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  • September 1998: Rustenburg, South Africa.  "Global Perspective" Women in Science & Technology Conference of the Ministry of Arts, Culture, Science & Technology.

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  • July 1998: Tremblant, Canada.  Tackling the Engineering Resource Shortage Presentation. Sponsored by the Engineering Information Foundation (EIF).

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  • April 1998: London, UK.  Working Session at the Engineering Council in the United Kingdom to begin to strategically address the global need for broader participation of women in the science and engineering professions. The specific objectives for this first meeting were to: identify appropriate programs and activities that meet the needs of individual countries; identify creative strategies for effecting systemic change; identify collaborative organizations; identify other countries to invite; and identify specific types of collaborative projects. The participants of the WEPAN/AAAS/AWIS Working Session concluded that there was a critical need to learn more about successful recruitment and retention strategies. The primary outcome of this meeting was a call to establish a global alliance of organizations, identify best practices in industry and education from different countries, and develop a plan to sustain the Global Alliance. A working paper was produced.

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  • March 1998: Manila, Philippines.  APEC Experts Meeting on Gender, Science, and Technology.

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  • July 1996: Paris, France. Establishing an International Coalition of Women in Science and Engineering Organiztion. Sponsored by British Emmbassy in Paris.  

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  • September 1995: Beijing, China. Fourth World Conference on Women. 

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    "I've never used the expression 'It's the right thing to do'. I think it's a '70s expression. And doing this [diversifying the workforce] is no more right than upgrading the facilities. [What Bell Atlantic needs most is] more diversity of thinking. If everybody in the room is the same, you'll have a lot fewer arguments and a lot worse answers."
    Ivan Seidenberg
    CEO, Bell Atlantic