Dear Ava believes STEM for girls is incredibly important, but don’t just take our opinion on it. Here’s a great article written by Danya with gosciencegirls.com.

As a mother of two little girls who are showing a love science and maths respectively, it’s no wonder that I’m interested in this whole ‘STEM for girls’ movement.

But maybe you’re wondering, “Huh? STEM for girls? What’s that all about?”

Let me answer that question in three parts….

Firstly, what is STEM?

STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (or maths as we call it here in Australia). It’s an acronym that was coined to address the current and future shortage of skilled workers in high-tech fields, and the inadequate education of students in these areas. It’s believed that, by teaching these subjects together, in an inter-disciplinary cohesive approach, STEM education will be more relevant and fun (and thus attract more students), and will develop the sort of critical thinking skills needed in the high-tech workforce, both now and in the future.

What about women in STEM?

The shortage of skilled workers and students in STEM is only half of the story. More alarming is the shortage of female skilled workers and students in STEM. Stats vary by country and by discipline, but generally speaking, women make up only 15-25% of the current STEM workforce, and the gap is broadening.

Why does this matter?

• Well, firstly there’s no evidence that girls are less capable in these fields, but rather that they often ‘feel’ less capable, partly due to stereotyping.
• Then there’s the tendency for STEM jobs to be higher paid, meaning that the lack of women in these roles is contributing to gender salary gap.
• A lack of women in these fields means fewer female role models, both for current female STEM employees, and for girls still forming career choices.
• And what about the whole growth of STEM jobs in the future thing, which is expected to skyrocket…

There’s a lot of work going on behind the scenes by policy makers and educators to remove barriers and encourage women to work and study in STEM fields – which is awesome, but I think it needs to start earlier than that. Much earlier than that.

Read the rest of the article HERE….