Views & Opinion
It’s Not Just a Man’s World – Encouraging Girls to Take on STEM
T
hroughout the course of 2014, the number of female students opting for STEM subjects and, in turn, embarking on STEM based careers, has been commented upon in the media numerous times. Even the Guardian has published a report calling for an end to the “damsel in distress” syndrome and for more to be done for female engineers. Statistics from the Institution of Engineering and Technology also showed that in 2013, only 7 per cent of the engineering workforce was female, and a mere 3 per cent of girls took on an engineering apprenticeship. With such dire numbers looking unlikely to improve, both the education and construction industries need to step up and initiate change. While it’s true that some of the responsibility to encourage young women to take on the STEM subjects lies with the education sector, real change can only happen if the built environment industry itself takes on some of the obligation. There have been some really great attempts to encourage female students to engage with and progress in STEM subjects, but some of the approaches are clearly not getting through with lasting impact. The problems surrounding young women and STEM begin with the way we attract them into the construction and built environment markets. The portrayal of a STEM career in the media is often extremely masculinised, showing
images for example of women welding in boiler suits challenging the stereotype of a 'man's world'.
While there’s nothing wrong with women wanting to wear boiler suits, as a nation we seem to have a great problem with 'going with the flow' and attracting young females into the built environment by harnessing their interests and mapping an alternative route. We don't need our young females to imitate men in order to gain a job in construction and in actual fact, when you unpick that very statement, the stereotypical construction male of the last generation is probably not the one that exists now. Kirsty Bertenshaw said in her latest Education Today column, encouraging women to realise their own potential in STEM topics is not about introducing overly feminine stereotypes into lessons either, for example the use of fashion in maths lessons or make up in science lessons. Young women don’t want to be patronised, they want to be encouraged and supported. This is where built environment businesses can play a big part. Taking young people into a shopping mall, a level playing field in terms of a place where boys and girls 'hang out', can offer a wealth of education relating to practical STEM opportunities: design, lighting and heating engineering, crowd flow, health and safety.
Comment by Alison Watson, Managing Director, Class Of Your Own
Segregating young women and treating them differently from their male peers is not helpful if we are to normalise the inclusion of women in the construction industry.
Through the implementation of curriculums that are designed by schools and industry professionals, students can learn exactly what a career in a STEM related occupation involves. They will be able to learn industry-needed skills, regardless of their sex. To support this, introducing the same software and equipment that are used in real job roles into STEM lessons can give students practical experience to prepare them for work life and inform their decisions on which career path they take.
The only secure way to eliminate gender stereotyping in STEM, and to show young women that they’re just as valued as their male counterparts, is for schools, universities and industry professionals to work collaboratively. We need to show that a career as a designer, engineer, surveyor, bricklayer or architect isn’t just an exciting and fulfilling option for men or women, but in fact all students, and the starting point for that is improving the curriculum and most important, the way we teach STEM subjects. Young women should want to embark on a STEM related career using the talents they already possess, not by imitating someone else.
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