Our Women in Waterpower (W.O.W.) community was, strangely enough, created in 2025 by our founder Karen McGhee after wearing a joke t-shirt to a waterpower conference that read “Yes, I am that dam woman” on the front and “Women of Waterpower” on the back. When Karen was approached by women asking to join the group, and received commentary from others that there really should be such a group, Karen set up a Linked-In group. Women started to join private group and others provided a lot of support for the inititiate. The rest, as they say…is history.

Since we are still a new group, we are still finding our way as to what our ultimate vision and mission for this group are. We currently provide a venue for our members to network with others in industry or looking to get into the industry. Since we started as a Linked-in group, please check us out there or our Linked-in feed on our home page.

Waterpower has long been a male dominated industry in Canada, but this is starting to change. We hope to provide a comfortable landing place for women to discuss their unique perspectives working in this diverse industry, and to promote our members careers.

Women in the Waterpower Industry hold a wide range roles, the following is a sample:

• Engineering – Civil, Structural, Geotechnical, Mechanical, Electrical, Environmental
• Scientists – Fisheries biologists, Ecologists, Environmental Scientists
• Planners
• Manufacturers
• Contractors
• Business Women
• Project Manager
• Control System Designers
• Operators
• Asset Managers
• Communications Experts