This workshop for young women between 11 and 17 years of age aims to encourage more young women to consider careers in STEM, especially engineering, and to remove the daunting preconceptions of such careers, such as the image of men in hard hat.
On this occasion, the One Million Girls in STEM Campaign will be launched by UNESCO, together with WomEng, a non-profit organization that has been working to develop the next generation of engineering leaders in society for the past decade. Through this Campaign UNESCO and WomEng will commit to reach 1 million girls through STEM education and awareness initiatives in at least 10 regions, in the next 10 years. This will be achieved through strategic global partnerships and by scaling the current programming, at all levels, across the continent, and beyond.

The event will include a roundtable on “Women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work”, with representatives of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Women in Engineering (WIE), the Royal Academy of Engineers (RAE) UK, the World Federation of Engineering Organisations (WFEO), Airbus, Intel, the European Petrochemical Association (EPCA) and the International Gas Union (IGU), among other UNESCO partners.

The roundtable will be followed by a workshop for about 100 young women, where they will be encouraged to ask question, to know more about STEM careers. The young women will transform their pink hard hat to represent their personal brand and share their views of STEM careers, their concerns and their interest.

This year marks the second celebration of this Day, led by UNESCO and UN-Women.
The commemoration at UNESCO Headquarters also includes roundtables on "Gender equality in science: myth, reality and future perspectives" and the exhibition "Infinités Plurielles".