Electrical Association for Women Centenary

One hundred years ago the Electrical Association for Women was founded. In its centenary year, the IET Archives, along with partner institutions and individuals, will be celebrating this accomplished organisation that helped to educate and empower women all over the world.

It all began on 12 November 1924, when a group of engineers, teachers, Girl Guide leaders, town planning committees and industry representatives met to discuss the life-changing opportunities of a new technology; domestic electricity.

They were invited to the home of Sir Charles and Lady Parsons to listen to the engineer Mabel Mathews. Mabel spoke about her experience working as a land girl in the First World War, when an old hand advised her to learn to ‘work light’.

She saw that the new electrical technologies that were starting to come into the home could help all women ‘work light’. She said,

“…women are very shrewd and thrifty persons but they are very much apt to overlook the fact that thrift of one’s energies is often more vital than thrift of money. It is by this form of thrift that electricity is going to help women.” (The Woman Engineer vol. 2 no. 1 pp. 5-8)

The formation of the EAW

Mabel suggested that the electrical industry, working engineers, teachers and women’s groups should get together to form a Women’s Electrical Association, an organisation which would inform, educate and encourage all women to use electricity to improve their lives. The Women’s Electrical Association was formed later that year. It soon changed its name to the Electrical Association for Women, or EAW.

Educating, supporting, inspiring women

To support professional women, the EAW held training courses for domestic science teachers, and set up certifications for women working as demonstrators in electricity showrooms. Margaret Partridge, the Devon-based electrical engineer, wrote a series of articles in the journal for Girl Guides. Beatrice (‘Tilly’) Shilling, who would go on to a successful career as an aeronautical engineer in the Second World War, wrote about her experience as Margaret’s apprentice: ‘How we wired a house in Paradise’.

Sustainability and growth

One hundred years after that initial meeting the EAW grew from strength to strength until its closure in 1986. Within those years the first local branch was set up in Glasgow in 1925. By the 1930s this had expanded to over 80 branches in the UK and one in the Netherlands. Their reach was also international; with a branch in New Zealand and one in Trinidad and Tobago, which is still active.

By asking women what they needed from this technology they were able to campaign for solutions- better design, more socket outlets, more functional layouts. Women were encouraged to take up the opportunities offered by this new industry.

Although the EAW was discontinued in 1986, there are many themes, such as making smart and informed choices and considering electrical economy, which are relevant to today’s consumers.