UN’s International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2020

On the 11th February 2020, we celebrate the United Nation’s International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

As a company, Conn3cted have always strived to employ staff based on their merits and suitability for a role – and with luck, in the process, have managed to maintain a gender balanced team.

However, days like these highlight how STEM industries in general haven’t quite managed to reach the same balance.
In 2015, the United Nations created the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In short, the agenda is a universal call to action, outlining 17 goals for People and the Planet.
On their website, they link the International Day of Women and Girls in Science to Goal 9:

“build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.”

The premise of the day is to celebrate women and girls who are trailblazers of innovation, and to remove the barriers that are preventing others from pursuing a career in STEM. By doing so, it is hoped that more girls are encouraged to follow the path less trodden and in turn, help us reach the 2030 goal.

Beliefs of what are ‘suitable’ skill sets for a girl or boy are often established at a young age. Fortunately, society is chipping away at the stereotypes, but the reality is that the gap may not bridge as quickly as we like.

Teaching girls about code and tech can pique their interest and put them on the pathway to a career. However, if today’s generation of primary and high school students do decide to pursue a STEM career, it’ll be another 5-10 years before their presence might significantly transform the statistics.

Of course, this isn’t a bad thing. The women who broke societal conventions in the first half of the 20th century and pursued a career in STEM set the path for other women. In the past few years, we’ve seen more organisations and events pop up to amplify this encouragement.

Conn3cted regularly take on high school and university students who want to learn more about tech. Last year we had our first two female high school students complete work experience. This allowed them to see the day to day operations of a tech company and where their skills can fit. It also taught them how the team function as a tight unit to deliver projects.

There are many organisations around the world that encourage STEM skills and careers.
Here’s just a few listed below:

She Maps teaches girls all about drones and what it’s like to be a Geospatial Scientist. Core learning stages include safety, manual flight, and coding for autonomous flight.
Women Who Code hold workshops across the world that help women build their coding skills and learn new things. Click here to search for an event in your city.
Code Like A Girl hold courses and camps for kids and adults wanting to learn more about coding. They also hold events that discuss current issues in tech.