International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry

The IUPAC GWB was initiated to celebrate the achievements of women chemists during the International Year of Chemistry. A Global Women’s Breakfast: Women Sharing a Chemical Moment in Time was organized on January 18 of 2011 (https://doi.org/10.1515/ci.2011.33.2.16) involving nearly 100 breakfasts in 44 countries, attended by approximately 5000 women chemists, making the event one of the largest gatherings of women scientists at that time.

In 2019, IUPAC celebrated both its Centenary and the International Year of the Periodic Table. As one of the premier activities, the GWB was updated and expanded. IUPAC provided the website for organizers to register their event and to connect with each other. Events were held on February 12, one day after the United Nations International Day of Women and Girls in Science. The GWB theme was “Empowering Women in Chemistry: A Global Networking Event”, over 200 events were organized in more than 50 countries (https://doi.org/10.1515/ci-2020-0107). An interactive global map showed the progression of breakfasts beginning in New Zealand and ending in Hawaii. The enormously positive response from organizers and participants in 2019 endorsed the importance of a truly global network for women in the chemical sciences. The organizing team determined that an annual Global Breakfast offered a major touchpoint for groups to re-connect and expand their professional networks. Reports indicated that organizers leveraged the GWB to engage leaders in their networks and to highlight progress or lack thereof in the area of gender diversity.

In 2020, interest in the GWB expanded further to 242 events in 54 countries, involving approximately 10,000 participants. The theme was “Building Bonds to Create Future Leaders”. The organizing team led formation of a multi-national project task group to more effectively engage with women chemists at the national and regional level..

The 2021 virtual event (February 9; theme Empowering Diversity in Science) has enormous significance; a key goal was to strengthen the sense of community among women participants who may be feeling isolated in a COVID world.
Impact

Increased interactions between women chemist’s groups worldwide are the key outcomes valued by the GWB team, as well as providing the opportunity for women chemists to rise and lead in their own organizations and professional societies. The leadership opportunities that have been created are valuable and contribute to career development. Through the GWB, participants connect to new role models or contacts in research, industry and education, expanding their own personal networks. A survey of 2020 event organizers indicated that the GWB resulted in increased attention to gender diversity issues in their organization (40%), led to new connections between groups within their organization (69%), as well as externally (43%).