Today March 8, we celebrate International Women Day.
On Women’s Day, we remember and recognize the influential role women have in our society, the benefits of having both women and men working together in favor of the world, and we highlight the importance of reducing the gender gap and achieving equity.
As you may know, women are underrepresented in STEM careers. For instance, women only account for around 28% of engineering graduates and 40% of computer science graduates. This is despite the fact that girls do as well or better than boys in science and math in standardized tests such as PISA.
However, what can we do to encourage more girls to explore and participate in STEM careers?
1. Let's share women role models with our girls.
Role models are an essential source of inspiration and motivation for everyone. They set the example for us to know that women and men can achieve their goals, succeed, and make a better world. All over the world, women are making a difference, but we want to showcase some of them in STEM:
Remember about Rosalind Franklin, who, with Clark and Watson, discovered the DNA structure. What about Marie Curie, a Polish woman who contributed to finding cancer treatments. Finally, we want to shed light on women scientists Dr. Özlem Türeci, Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, Katalin Karikó, Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, and Dr. Lisa Jackson for their contribution to bringing the COVID-19 vaccine worldwide.
2. Let's forget about gender biases that prevent girls from following a career in science.
As I was saying, girls and women are as capable of pursuing the career of their dreams as men.
All women have the potential to join and succeed in a science career. However, there are still biases that enforce gender bias and discrimination. Our responsibility is to stop these biases by motivating girls and boys equally to develop their digital and STEM skills.
3. Let's trigger girls’ curiosity in discovering the wonders of STEM and technology.
We invite you to bring all girls to Dexterity workshops and camps to discover how technology works and all we can do by becoming tech creators.
Through fun and interactive activities, girls learn from role models about technology and the easy way we can create tech solutions to improve the world. So do not miss it out!!