What Is The WIE Pledge?
“IEEE WIE pledges to work towards gender-diversified panels at all IEEE meetings, conferences, and events, including our own.”
The Pledge was created from years of discussion among the WIE Committee, which includes representation from IEEE Regions, Societies, Councils, and other Organizational Units (OUs). The WIE Committee have listened to our membership at local and global events, read and discussed their comments in our membership feedback surveys. In a recent IEEE survey, 4,579 women responded to questions on being a woman in tech, and the survey asked higher-grade members how IEEE might help address issues women face in the tech workplace.
IEEE Women in Engineering Leads a Pledge to Make Speaker Panels More Gender Balanced (IEEE Spectrum)
How Can You Take The WIE Pledge?
First, speak with your organization’s leadership – including your WIE Committee representative, Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) representative, Vice President (VP), President, Director, or Steering Committee. This may mean further discussion with Administrative Committees (AdComs), Executive Committees (ExComs), and even Board of Governors/Directors. WIE can help you prepare for those discussions – contact us at women@ieee.org.
Once you decide to move forward and make the WIE Pledge, the implementation and compliance are the next set of challenges. From plenty of conversations with Presidents, WIE leadership, IEEE leadership, and VPs, we very much understand that this is an organic process where one size does not fit all. Some OUs are extending the Pledge, for example, beyond gender to ethnicity/age/etc.
Others are expanding upon the WIE Pledge for multiple facets of their OU portfolio (i.e., diversity in gender in conferences but also publications).
Download The WIE Pledge Logo
The WIE Pledge logo was created for those who adopt the WIE Pledge to show representation via their communications channels. The WIE Pledge logo can be displayed via the following communication channels, i.e website, email, presentations, social media channel, print collateral, etc.
What IEEE Organizational Units (OUs) Are Saying
“Bernadette Bouchon-Meunier, the IEEE Professional Communication Society 2020 and 2021 president, says the society has a long tradition of supporting women in its field, and “is happy to take up the IEEE WIE pledge,” which the society “has already put into practice in its own events and activities.”
Bernadette Bouchon-Meunier, IEEE Computational Intelligence Society“The IEEE Computer Society is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive environment at its conferences, and we are proud to support the WIE pledge,” says the 2020 society president, Leila De Floriani. “We’re looking forward to working with the WIE on strategies for implementation and further diversification efforts for our activities.”
Leila De Floriani, IEEE Computer Society“The 2020 IEEE Power & Energy Society president, Frank C. Lambert, says PES supports the inclusion of a diverse set of speakers—which “will lead to more creative, interesting, and representative panels across the PES.” He said the society “pledges to end same-sex panels at all PES meetings, conferences, and events.”
Frank C. Lambert, IEEE Power & Energy Society“The IEEE Professional Communication Society supports the IEEE WIE pledge. In doing so, we pledge to work towards gender-diversified panels and speakers at our conferences, leadership of our events, and in authorship of our journal publications.”
IEEE Professional Commmuication Society“EMBS recognizes and values the role women scientists and engineers have played in our overall societal success,” says Metin Akay, 2021 EMBS President. “We pledge to continue to promote female scientists and engineers by encouraging involvement in our conferences, publications, technical, and membership activities and committees. We will continue to actively invite them to fulfill leadership roles in our society.”
Metin Akay, IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology SocietyIEEE Organizational Units (OUs) That Took The WIE Pledge
Next Steps
WIE is building momentum with the Pledge and concurrently working on the cross-talk of how to implement change, establishing best practices, and capturing all of these details for our membership. Currently in development and soon to be communicated:
- WIE Pledge logo (PNG) to proudly display on your event and conference webpages, etc.
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
- Best practices from OUs who have taken the WIE Pledge for success with a longer-term view
Women’s Experiences In Tech
In a recent IEEE survey, 4,579 women responded to questions on being a woman in tech. The detailed findings reveal discouraging experiences and perceptions within the industry, and how IEEE might help address issues women face in the tech workplace.