Women's Engineering Society

What Women's Engineering Society does

The Women's Engineering Society (WES) is a UK registered charity (Charity Number 1008913) founded on 23 June 1919, operating as a professional membership society for women in engineering, scientists, and technologists. Headquartered in Stevenage, England, WES describes itself as "the UK's largest professional organisation for women in engineering." Its mission is to support women in engineering to achieve their full potential and to drive a more inclusive future for the engineering industry. The organization originated International Women in Engineering Day (INWED), held annually on 23 June as a global awareness campaign.

WES generates revenue through two streams: individual membership subscriptions from women engineers across all career stages, and corporate partnerships in which companies pay to support workplace inclusion and gain access to a diverse talent pool. The portfolio of member-facing services includes the MentorSET one-to-one mentoring program, regional community clusters (including new Scotland launches in Edinburgh and Aberdeen in 2026), the Apprentice Board and Early Careers Board for pipeline constituencies, the annual conference (most recently 'Engineering Intelligence' in Birmingham, attended by 250+ members), the WE50 Top 50 Women in Engineering awards, and the WES Awards program. Named corporate partners include Airbus, Amazon RME, National Grid, Ricardo, the University of Edinburgh, Robert Gordon University, and the European Central Bank.

WES is structured as an independent non-profit with no parent company, no subsidiaries, and no equity funding. There is no proprietary technology product, mobile app, or API; all interactions are human-mediated and delivered through the wes.org.uk website, in-person events, and partner-hosted programming. The organization operates across the United Kingdom with active cluster expansion into Scotland and additional sector diversification into aerospace, logistics, energy, and financial policy through new partnerships signed in early 2026.

Name

Women's Engineering Society

Legal name

The Women's Engineering Society

Website

https://wes.org.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1919

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Women's Engineering Society is a UK registered charity and membership organization, founded in 1919, supporting women engineers across all career stages through mentorship, awards, regional clusters, and the global International Women in Engineering Day campaign.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Stevenage

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership fees: WES generates revenue through annual membership fees from women engineers, scientists, and technologists who join the professional network for inspiration, support, and professional development opportunities.
2. Corporate partnerships: Companies become WES partners to support inclusion in their workplace and gain access to a diverse talent pool of women engineers.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

WES is a membership-based professional society that sells individual memberships and corporate partnerships to deliver networking, one-to-one mentoring via MentorSET, an annual conference, awards programmes (WES Awards and WE50), community groups, the global INWED awareness campaign, and research publications. It targets women engineers, scientists, and technologists in the UK and partners that want to engage a diverse engineering talent pool.

Product overview

Women's Engineering Society is a membership-based professional organization offering a portfolio of services focused on supporting women in engineering. The core offerings include WES Membership providing access to a professional network, MentorSET for one-to-one mentoring, Annual Conference for professional development, WES Awards and WE50 for recognizing achievement, Community Groups for regional networking, and International Women in Engineering Day (INWED) as a global awareness campaign. Additional programs include the Apprentice Board and Early Careers Board for specific career stages, plus research publications and job placement resources.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• MentorSET: Mentoring program connecting women engineers at all career stages through one-to-one mentoring
• WE50
• INWED
• WES Awards
• Apprentice Board

Products and services

• WES Membership Annual membership providing individual women engineers access to the UK's largest network of women engineers, role model opportunities, professional development, governance participation, and engagement with boards and projects.
• MentorSET One-to-one mentoring programme connecting women engineers at all career stages with experienced professional mentors for career guidance and advancement.
• Annual Conference Annual flagship in-person event bringing hundreds of members together for networking, learning, and professional development under a themed engineering topic (most recent: 'Engineering Intelligence' in Birmingham with 250+ attendees).
• WES Awards Annual awards programme celebrating engineering excellence and individuals driving gender balance and inclusion across engineering and applied sciences, including the Karen Burt Memorial Award, Gillian Skinner Award, Isabel Hardwich Medal, Amy Johnson Inspiration Award, Men As Allies Award, and Best Newly Incorporated Engineer.
• WE50 (Top 50 Women in Engineering) Annual awards list celebrating the top 50 women engineers across all disciplines, with winners announced each year on International Women in Engineering Day (23 June).
• Community Groups Regional and special-interest communities (e.g., Scotland, Aberdeen, London) bringing women together across engineering for networking, support, and collective action on shared causes.
• International Women in Engineering Day (INWED) Global awareness campaign held annually on 23 June to raise the profile of women in engineering and highlight career opportunities across the engineering sector.
• Apprentice Board Board of female engineering apprentices that organises networking events and professional development opportunities tailored to apprentices.
• Early Careers Board Board focused on supporting and representing early-career women engineers, organising outreach activities and career development events.
• Reports and Research Research publications including the annual Apprentice Report capturing insights and perspectives from engineering apprentices about the state of the profession.
• Job Board and Placements Career resources including job search functionality and engineering placement opportunities for members and engineering professionals.
• Corporate Partnership Programme Sponsorship and partnership offering for engineering employers that want to support gender inclusion, engage with WES's talent pool, host branded events, and gain inclusion credentials.

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered supporting and core.

• Robert Gordon UniversitysupportingStrategic or Co-development Partner · 25 March 2026Robert Gordon University hosted the WES Aberdeen cluster launch event 'Engineering Change' at Innovation Station, bringing together industry, academia and the engineering community to explore building a more diverse STEM workforce.
• University of EdinburghsupportingStrategic or Co-development Partner · 23 March 2026University of Edinburgh partnered with WES for a cluster event celebrating the opening of their new engineering building, held at Yew Lecture Theatre, The Nucleus Building, Thomas Bayes Road.
• AirbuscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 8 March 2026Airbus is a corporate partner of WES, hosting webinars and events featuring their women engineers in leadership roles. Three Airbus leaders (Hannah Smith, Trudie Savage, Solange Baena) participated in a WES webinar on 'The Future of Sustainable Aviation: Women Leading Change.'
• Amazon RMEcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 February 2026Amazon RME (Reliability Maintenance Engineering) partnered with WES for Apprentice Day events, hosting apprentices at their Robotics Fulfilment Centre (LTN4) in Dunstable and Make on Demand facility. Emma Swinscoe, Laura Hughes, and Kristine Hammond shaped the program.
• ECB - European Central BanksupportingStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 February 2026ECB Vice-Chair Dr Inés Tunga participated in a WES career day at Peter Symonds College, speaking about engineering careers and the importance of organizations like WES in supporting future engineers.
• National GridsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational Grid hosted 'The Power of Networking' event for female engineering apprentices in February 2023, featuring icebreaker activities and inspirational talk from a female leader who started as an apprentice.
• RicardosupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerRicardo hosted 'Engineer Your Future' event in March 2024, providing a platform for apprentices to interact with panel speakers, ask questions, and engage in team networking activities.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Others

• Advance HE (Athena SWAN): UK charity administering the Athena SWAN gender equality charter across higher education and research. Comparable to WES in operating UK diversity-in-STEM programmes and awarding recognition, but focused on institutional accreditation rather than individual membership.

Direct peers

• Stemettes: UK non-profit focused on inspiring and supporting girls and young women into STEM careers through events, mentoring, and outreach. Closely aligned with WES's community-led and youth-pipeline mission, particularly around apprentice and early-career programming.
• Society of Women Engineers (SWE): US-based professional society dedicated to supporting women in engineering and technology through membership, awards, conferences, and outreach. Operates an analogous membership and corporate partner model to WES and is the closest international comparable in mission and structure.
• International Network of Women Engineers and Scientists (INWES): Global NGO of women engineers and scientists' organisations, supporting national societies and cross-border collaboration. Comparable to WES in mission and structure, and historically connected to INWED's international reach.

Regional players

• Women's Engineering Society of India (WESI): India-based society of women engineers offering membership, networking, and professional development. Closest geographic-lookalike peer to WES outside the UK in terms of model, scale, and mission.
• European Centre for Women and Technology (ECWT): European-level partnership promoting women in technology and engineering through policy, events, and member networks. Comparable to WES in its gender-in-engineering mission but operates at a pan-European, multi-stakeholder scale.
• Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN): US-based coalition advancing women in engineering through advocacy, research, and a university network. Comparable in mission to WES but operates primarily across North American academic and institutional partners.

Emerging players

• Women Who Code: Global non-profit supporting women in technology careers through local networks, mentorship, and events. Comparable community-led model and target demographic (women in technical fields), though with a stronger software/tech orientation than WES's broad engineering focus.

Broad incumbents

• Royal Academy of Engineering: UK's national academy for engineering, focused on engineering excellence, policy, and diversity initiatives including programmes that support women in engineering. Shares WES's advocacy and recognition functions but operates at a national-strategic scale rather than as a membership society.
• Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET): One of the UK's largest engineering professional bodies, offering membership, awards, publications, and events to the broader engineering community. Comparable to WES in offering professional development services to engineers but serves a much wider, gender-neutral membership.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Women's Engineering Society