Over the last few years there has been a growing movement to organize a “Women in GIS†group. In July 2015, at the Esri’s User Conference in San Diego, leaders of this budding organization received feedback from women who work in the geospatial industry from all over the world. We asked our colleagues specifically how a group like ours could meet their needs. With a few specific questions as guidelines for discussion, here is the consensus we came up with:
“Women in GIS (WiGIS) is an international, professional, and social organization as well as an advocacy group for women and their allies. The aim of WIGIS is to serve as a safe place for women from all geospatial fields to:
- work towards overcoming job discrimination, lower pay, professional isolation, and other common barriers women might face, and
- foster relationships and resource sharing among members and institutions.
WiGIS is a consortium of advocates from academia, government, and private industry designed to advance the presence of women and minorities in GIS. Activities of the organization include social gatherings, professional development and educational events, and opportunities for networking and mentoring. At a minimum, our goal is to meet quarterly and to engage in constant communication as needed and desired via forums such as the WiGIS website and an email listserv/newsletter.â€
CGIA supports GIS professionals through outreach, partnerships with URISA Chapters to host the CalGIS Conference, and with informative and important information on the CGIA website. If you are interested in learning more about WiGIS, please check out the new website: http://www.womeningis.org/.