The Impact of Female Role Models
As I head towards my last term of undergrad, I’m reflecting on various experiences from the past to encapsulate my journey. One of my goals this year is to produce more content; both for myself and for the internet. That includes creating an online presence on Medium.
This post talks about my experience validating my social impact venture at Greenhouse, an incubator at UWaterloo, and being grateful for the women that helped me along the way.
Problem
My social venture aims to address the under-representation of women in STEM. 59% of all university graduates are women, but only 39% of those are in STEM. Out of those graduates, only 20% of women are in the tech workforce. 20% of the initial 39% is only 5.85–7.8% of the whole. Representation and diversity in this growing sector are important in solving global issues.
Research has shown that there are a few reasons for this disparity. In North America particularly, the primary issue is a leaky pipeline.
As young girls grow, their interest in STEM fields decline. In middle school, 31% of girls believe that jobs requiring coding and programming are “not for them.” In high school, that percentage jumps up to 40. By the time they’re in college, 58% of girls count themselves out of these jobs.
Despite the high priority that is placed on STEM in schools, efforts to expand female interest and employment in STEM act as a bandaid to a larger issue. There are a plethora of resources available for learning digital skills; workshops, conferences, classes, and more offered by government organizations, corporate partners, and non-profits. However, there are multiple overlapping factors embedded in the socialization, learning processes, and the media that are to blame.
Solutions/Areas of Opportunity
Based on literature reviews, focus groups, and research by leading companies (Microsoft, Canada Learning Code, etc), the key areas of improvement were apparent:
- Girls have a hard time picturing themselves in STEM roles. They require more exposure to STEM jobs, female role models, and career awareness.
- Exposure to real-world applications of STEM helps girls realize the potential for STEM careers to be creative & have a positive impact on the world.
- Girls who participate in STEM clubs and activities outside of school are more likely to pursue STEM subjects later in their education.
- Encouragement from teachers and parents combined make a big difference in girls’ interest in STEM.
- Educators can foster a ‘growth mindset’ among their female students by tapping into their willingness to work hard for results.
Looking at the research, it’s apparent that our perception of the world and long-term interests develop at a very young age. Studies show that girls as early as age six start developing the idea that they’re not inherently good at math. For that reason, it’s important to focus on fostering interests in math and sciences in girls at a very young age and work towards countering negative perceptions they might start developing.
Within this sphere, my project aims to address the lack of positive female role models at the elementary-school level, combined with the ability for parents and educators to foster a growth mindset in young girls.
In my own life, having positive female role models within the workplace — and outside of it — was imperative in shaping me into the person I am today. I aim to let all the inspirational women in my life how they impacted my behaviour and choices. Starting with my old manager, Dottie Yeates. Dottie was ambitious, eloquent, and unapologetic in her conduct. She helped me take initiative and be a leader in all aspects of my life. To this day, I hold her advice close to my heart:
“ It’s better to voice your opinion and be wrong, than to have an opinion and not voice it at all.”
For links to any of the research presented above, please get in touch at aaiman.aamir@gmail.com.
