Repository: UIHistories Project: SWE - Proceedings of the First International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists [PAGE 16]

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OFFICIAL.OPENING of the FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF WOMEN ENGINEERS AND SCIENTISTS by Miss Aileen Cavanagh President, Society of Women Engineers Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the Society of Women Engineers, over which it has been my privilege to preside during this historic year, 1963 1964. We are meeting at a time when most people have come to realize that their own integral worth as human creatures is inevitably dependent on the ability of the human race to mature, both by self-recognition and by self-discipline. In this changing environment, this First International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists has been an ambitious but much needed undertaking. It has been needed because the place of women professionals in the fields of engineering and science has been debated without the benefit of facts for far too long, most often by people — including both men and women -- who have never met a woman engineer or scientist. You will meet and have the opportunity to converse with many women engineers and scientists here, and they have come from all over the world. I am certain you will find them both charming and sociable, and with only one head apiece'. This Conference has been ambitious, as is any attempt to find rational perspective in a controversial issue. In nation after nation, poverty, selfishness and ignorance have created severe economic problems. Today, determined to maintain world peace, the many nations of the world are striving to feed, clothe, house, educate, transport and communicate with their peoples, no matter.how large their numbers may become. While these nations are seeking responsible ways to govern their expanding populations without destroying family life, the world is trying to enter a new era of human understanding and international cooperation. Its peoples seek to eradicate national prejudices, formed under past economic and social stress, by reciprocal communications and by sharing cultural and technical knowledge among the many nations. In this work to bind the world together, many engineers and scientists -- men and women alike -- are looking to the future needs of humanity; some are striving to conquer outer space and attempting to unlock the mysteries and vast resources of the oceans and the bowels of the earth, while others are working daily to nurture the hopeful spirit of life among the world's peoples. This Conference, as its sessions unfold, will open to you and to us even broader engineering and scientific career vistas for the future. You will see, as we have seen, that technical progress properly applied can be a strong force for good, acting to increase human dignity and to ease the burdens of hunger, ignorance, and despair that afflict so many of our fellowmen throughout the

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