Press Release: Free Equity Environmental Scanning Tool (EEST)

This document is a press release announcing that the Equity Environmental Scanning Tool (EEST) is now available for free under a Creative Commons license. Issued by the ACCESS+ initiative, it describes the EEST as a comprehensive DEI self-assessment for professional societies that benchmarks performance, identifies strengths and gaps, centralizes data, and guides actionable change. The release explains the tool’s three sections—12 functional areas of society operations, DEI compositional measures, and open-ended reflection on progress, challenges, and priorities. It notes the EEST’s origins in the UK’s Diversity and Progression Framework, acknowledges pilot contributions from partner societies, and outlines ACCESS+ and WEPAN’s mission to drive systemic, intersectional gender equity in STEM professional cultures.