Leading women
WISE up to engineering as a career for girls Helen Jeys wants girls and their families to challenge STEM gender stereotyping I have always been passionate about girls’ education and encouraging girls to know that they can achieve their goals in whichever area they choose. Interestingly, given the current news stories circulating about sexual harassment in so many areas of public life, the importance of women being willing to speak out and having the confidence to do so has never been more important. And, as a Head of a girls’ school, the current media interest in harassment has made me think about the message that I want to give to the girls in my own school. I want them to leave school with self-esteem and self-confidence, two characteristics that are vitally important if they are to succeed and flourish in the professional workplace. Indeed, instead of responding to questions about their future with such sentiments as ‘do you think I can do that?’, I want them to hold the view ‘well why not?’. And I feel that this message is really
getting through. I spoke to one of my Year 12 girls after her Year 11 parents’ evening last year. The answer to my question, ‘so what are you aiming for after A levels?’ was quite simple and without hesitation, ‘I want to be a quantum cosmologist’. And indeed, why not? As schools, we have a responsibility to encourage girls to know that there is nothing that need stand in their way of success. But is it always this easy? The issue of gender balance is something about which all educators should be concerned. For instance, there has been very little change in the proportion of girls studying physics post-16. Only around 20% of students progressing onto A level are girls and only around 15-25% of the current STEM workforce is made up of women. Indeed, the UK needs 100,000 new graduates in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics subjects every year until 2020 just to maintain
Spring 2018
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