Gender inequality in STEM starts from a very early age, with young girls being told that physics and maths are ‘boys’ subjects. When we ask most children to draw an engineer, most of them draw men in overalls. FemEng aim to tackle this thinking through our outreach projects to schools in the local community with workshops and presentations in the hope to act as positive role models in the STEM industry and break gender stereotypes. Maybe next time they think of an engineer, they’ll draw one of us!
Many young people are unaware of the many engineering disciplines on offer at university, and that you don’t have to be interested in cars or building bridges. By giving young people a short idea of the different disciplines through fun and educational workshops, we hope to inspire them to head towards a career in STEM. Not only do we run these workshops for Primary school children, but we also deliver career talks and personal guidance to young women applying for engineering at university. Technology is driven by innovation and creativity which can only be optimised by diversity in the workforce. Young people are the future therefore it is critical that FemEng inspire the women of the next generation into engineering. |