The Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria APWEN was formed by a handful of women engineers led by Engr. (Mrs.) J. O. Maduka in 1982 and was formally inaugurated in 1983. It was originally meant to be a pressure group since most men hiring engineers then would rather have women in the kitchen and not on construction sites or behind the desk carrying out engineering designs.
Today, the association has grown to be one of the largest professional Women Engineering Network in Africa with 38 chapters in 36 states in Nigeria.