The International Women’s Day on 8 March 2020 was celebrated in many different and colourful ways around the world. For the women of UTM’s engineering faculty, it was a day to celebrate unity, camaraderie, reflection and advocacy, and action among women.

Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), Women in Engineering (WIE) of Razak Faculty of Technology and Informatics (RFTI) celebrated it by hosting a pizza party for its members and non-members. On top of the hot pizzas, there were also cheese and fruit tartlets for dessert.

In total, there were 12 academicians, engineers, scientists (10 IEEE members), and 20 students at the party. The event was organised by IEEE WIE of RFTI.  Assoc. Prof. Dr Robiah Ahmad and Assoc. Prof. Ts Dr Norliza Mohd Noor who are both IEEE active members sponsored the delicious spread.

To date, the number of female students studying engineering at the local universities and graduating are at par with the male students. However, the employability rate of women engineers is said to be around 20% compared to male engineers. On top of that, only about 8% of women engineers stay active professionally after five years of working. This is mainly because young female engineers who have just started their own families take time out of work, and never came back.

The international women’s day is a day to celebrate all social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women around the world. With the objective of promoting self-reflection and unity among women, IEEE WIE of RFTI organised the event to celebrate the camaraderie and hard work of the women in the engineering faculty.