Dear WIL and WIL Supporters
This week, we want to draw your attention to a new cache of interviews on the WIL website. These are with the following women: Alejandra Kalimeri, Eleonora Brembila, Emma Beadle, Helen Loomes, Jemima Unwin, Juliet Rennie, Karen Van Creveld, Karoliina Helin, Kristina Allison, Menekse Kaya (WIL ambassador – Ireland), Sophie Parry, Ruth Kelly Waskett, Sonia Pepperell, Betty Atine and Victoria Jerram. You can read each interview by clicking on their names or by visiting the WIL website.
These women in lighting are from a range of countries and backgrounds. What links them is that they are all active members of WIL supporters; The Society of Light & Lighting. We are launching their interviews this week as the SLL welcomes Ruth Kelly Waskett (smiling above!) as President of the Society – only the fourth woman in its 112 year history. You can see her presidential address here and learn more about the Society in her talk.
The SLL publishes guidance and codes which are internationally recognised and set the criteria for best practice in the lighting profession. It also provides a programme of events aimed at promoting discussion and disseminating knowledge in the application of light, as well as providing a platform for people who have an interest in light and lighting to share knowledge and inspiration. The SLL represents a very broad range of people who work with light: lighting designers, engineers, manufacturers and those in academic roles and is a place to share ideas, to formulate standards, and to benefit people everywhere.
However, the breakdown of gender in the SLL membership shows that it is more than three quarters male. We know that this does not reflect the lighting industry and Ruth would like to use her presidential platform to highlight to women across the industry that SLL membership could be for them, too, thus ensuring that the make-up of the SLL reflects the industry that they represent.
If you are interested in joining, please click here.
The WIL Team – Light Collective, Archifos and formalighting