• Question: Do you think women are under-represented in the STEM industry? If so, why?

    Asked by barryhomeowner to Vinita, Rachel, Pam, Christopher, Brian, Andrew on 7 Mar 2019.
    • Photo: Pam Anderson

      Pam Anderson answered on 7 Mar 2019:

      Yes absolutely! I think there is still a perception that men are more suited to a lot of STEM careers but this just isn’t true! Women can be so successful in these careers and should be encouraged to pursue STEM subjects at school. We need to be better at encouraging young children to play with ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ toys and take away the ‘programming’ that comes along with these toys which ultimately makes men more likely to follow one career path and women another.

    • Photo: Rachel Hudson

      Rachel Hudson answered on 12 Mar 2019:

      The ratios are definitely improving and people are doing a lot to raise awareness but there is still a lot of male-dominated teams in the industry.
      It’s probably due to how things were in the past where not many girls were encouraged to do Maths and Science because men thought they were better at it… This means there are not as many women in senior positions or people in history to be role models for young girls…
      Maybe even some of these stereotypes exist today but I hope that girls, and all people in general, will be able to see that they can achieve whatever they want if they put their mind to it and that the opportunities will always be there for someone determined enough to find them!

    • Photo: Brian Weaver

      Brian Weaver answered on 15 Mar 2019:

      Yes, based on my experience there are fewer women in civil engineering and satellite positioning and navigation engineering.
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      Why? That’s a good question for any situation!
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      In my opinion, the imbalance between men and women in engineering might be caused by “norms” society places on certain jobs. Just like I’ve seen many male car mechanics and not so many female mechanics since society classifies this as “dirty work”.
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      Should we be concerned? I say yes! The group of people solving any problem must be diverse or else you risk everyone thinking the same way. This reduces the chance for innovations which are required to progress our understanding in any area of study!

    • Photo: Vinita Marwaha Madil

      Vinita Marwaha Madil answered on 15 Mar 2019:

      Women are under-represented in STEM unfortunately – in the UK only 9% of all engineers are women!

      Partly I think its because the stereotype of a scientist or engineer needs to change – hopefully this initiative has helped! Engineering is a really creative job and you need that international creativity and diversity to solve some of the world’s hardest problems.

      We also do need more role models in STEM – visible and tangible for the next generation – as Sally Ride the 1st American woman in space said, “If you can’t see it, you can’t be it.”

      It’s important that we encourage more young women to choose STEM especially as there’s a massive skill requirement for engineering upcoming over the next few years. One in five schoolchildren would have to become an engineer to fill that gap in the UK! Encouraging more girls to pursue STEM and specifically engineering will also ensure that they make up 50% of engineering talent and can make an impact on the world with a career in engineering. Moreover, technology and innovation will only reach 50% of its potential if we only have half of the workforce working on it.

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