Ruth Shafer (12 March 1912 –19 May 1972), was the chair of the first international conference of women engineers and scientists.

[1] She got into engineering in the 1950s when she was Eastern Division Manager for Overhead Heaters, Inc. She designed and built a pump for oil fired furnaces and flues.

She compiled a handbook of advice on interviews with the New York Section’s employment committee which included "Have your answers for ... "outrageous questions" handy.

[5] She was part of the SWE network[6] in the 1950s and 1960s, working alongside colleagues such as Beatrice Hicks to challenge predjudicial statements by companies which did not want to hire women engineers and that made excuses about danger when there was instead "an unwillingness to build women’s restrooms than dangerous working conditions".

[2][11] In 1961 she wore a space traveller costume as part of a SWE fancy dress fundraiser at the National Convention (Conference) in Boston, Massachusetts.