The Women Engineers for a Day programme aims to promote the professional choice of engineering and technology fields among young female students in primary and secondary schools, deconstructing the idea that these are male domains and combating the stereotypes that condition their school and career choices.

Despite some progress, there are many challenges in terms of Equality, in a world where girls and women face a range of inequalities and barriers, from educational, training and professional choices, to the gender gap still present in the labour market, as well as the various challenges of reconciling personal, family and professional life, where women traditionally tend to take on a greater percentage of tasks, responsibilities and care for others.

The 7th edition of the Women Engineers for a Day programme will count with 186 partner entities - 62 schools/school groups, 23 higher education institutions and 101 companies, associations and municipalities. The activities will be carried out throughout the school year, and range from engineering challenges and study visits to mentoring, role modelling and workshops, always with a multidisciplinary mindset and complementing the school programme.

This work will involve this vast network of partner organisations from various sectors of activity, which are fundamental for the girls to be able to experiment and reflect on their professional future This edition will bring some new features, namely the start of a pilot project with children and young people in the younger age groups, in order to work on this issue earlier and across the board in various school activities.

Promoted by the Portuguese government, the Women Engineers for a Day programme is part of the National Strategy for Equality and Non-Discrimination – “Portugal Mais Igual”, and since its creation in 2017, it has reached 18,964 young people from the 3rd cycle and secondary education, through practical laboratory activities, workshops, role model sessions and mentoring. The programme is coordinated by the Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality (CIG) and the INCoDe.2030 programme and implemented by the Portuguese Association for Diversity and Inclusion (APPDI), the Instituto Superior Técnico and the Order of Engineers.