According to their mission statement, the network seeks to encourage the education and retention of professional women in these fields through international collaboration.
Founding members include Canadian engineers Claire Deschênes, Monique Frize and Gail Mattson, current Immediate Past President of INWES and past president of SWE, Society of Women Engineers, USA.
[1] The network took over the management of the International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists (ICWES), which first took place in 1964 in New York and has met every 3–4 years since then.
[6] ICWES serves as a meeting point for women practitioners in science and engineering from across the world.
[6] Since INWES took over the management of the conference, it has taken place in Ottawa, Canada (2002); Seoul, Korea (2005); Lille, France (2008); Adelaide, Australia (2011); Los Angeles, USA (2014); and New Delhi, India (2017).