The Directorate General of Innovation presents the campaign “STEM is your future” to promote scientific and technological vocations among girls and young women in the Balearic Islands.
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The general director of Innovation, Eduardo Zúñiga, has presented a campaign to promote vocations in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, also known as STEM areas, among girls and young women of the Balearic Islands.
The general director of Innovation, Eduardo Zúñiga, presented at ParcBit, a campaign to promote vocations in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, also known as STEM areas, among girls and young women in the Balearic Islands.
Together with the coordinator of the cybersociety area of the Bit Foundation, Bel Llodrà, the Director General explained how this campaign is part of a series of actions to promote scientific and technological vocations among girls and young women, with the aim of breaking the gender gap that exists in the sector, where there are only 25% of women (according to Eurostat data).
During the presentation, some data extracted from the “White Paper of women in the technological field” of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation (2020) have been provided; such as for example that; by 2022 45% of jobs will be related to the digital environment; and that despite the fact that the number of new ICT graduates and ICT qualified workers is not maintained, the demand for professionals is growing by about 3% per year. As a result, a shortage of almost 900,000 ICT professionals is expected.
According to the Director General, this situation causes two very important problems; on the one hand, there is a lack of professionals in these sectors. On the other hand, as women do not have access to these professions, which are the most in demand and the best paid, “a situation of wage and social inequality arises, which will also leave women out when it comes to designing solutions to humanity’s current problems, thus perpetuating inequalities”.
Thus, and with the aim of reversing this situation, the Directorate General for Innovation, through the Bit Foundation, has planned a series of actions aimed at promoting technological vocations in girls, creating interest in STEM careers; and also to give visibility to women technologists.
Framed in these actions, the campaign “STEM is your future” has been carried out after a research work, through a study conducted by the engineer Carolina Galán, which has determined the reasons why girls and young women are less and less present in STEM studies.
Among other things, the study concludes that most girls are interested in STEM between the ages of 10 and 12 but begin to lose interest at 15 years, reaching the lowest value between 17 and 19 years; or that in primary school they have confidence to program, but then this interest is reduced.
Likewise, it is also explained that there are stereotypes that make it difficult for girls to remain interested in STEM, and moreover, act as a deterrent effect: for example, “Girls think that boys are brighter, although they get better grades”; or that “an important factor in the process for a girl to decide to study STEM subjects is closely related to the fact that she has a reference or that she is accompanied or tutored by a mentor”.
Based on these conclusions, a plan of actions was designed, carried out during this 2021 and which has included; talks with women scientists and technologists; science and technology days for schoolchildren, and also this awareness, information and dissemination campaign.
The campaign, which is aimed at girls and young women as well as parents and teachers, has as its central element the website (fundaciobit.org/stem/) that brings together informative material created for this campaign and other material compiled by the Bit Foundation during 2021 from the collaboration with other entities such as APTE (Association of Technology Parks of Spain).
On the website you can find content created for the exhibition on science and technology in women, with files on women in the STEM field, the informative booklets; “And what do you want to be when you grow up”, and the “Guide on disruptive technologies”; as well as an interactive presentation on STEM careers very useful for working in class.
In addition, the campaign also includes a whole series of motivational videos that will be published in different social networks; Instagram, Tiktok, and Youtube, to invite to visit the website and get information about what it brings to study a STEM career.
This campaign is part of the execution service of actions for the fulfillment of the Science, Technology and Innovation Plan of the Balearic Islands 2018-2022, to be carried out during the year 2021, to promote technological vocations in girls, create interest in STEM careers (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and give visibility to women technologists.