Breaking Barriers: Encouraging Young Women

into STEM Careers

SCIENCE TECHNOLOGYGY ENGINEERINGG MATHEMATICSS

Neuroscience

Marine biology

Astronomy

Astrophysics

Robotics Chemical engineering

Software development

Mining engineering

Biomechanics

Aerospace

Quantum physics

Meteorology

Zoology Mechanical engineering

Coding Statistics

NeurologyCivil engineering

Nanotechnology

Electrical engineering

Nuclear physics

Computational science

Electronics

Actuarial science

Archaeology

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Florida Atlantic University

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Why should women work in STEM?

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Benefits for women working in STEM fields:

• STEM jobs are exciting and diverse

• STEM jobs are well paid

• The pay gap between men and women is generally less in STEM jobs

• STEM jobs are enjoyable

Benefits for STEM companies that employ more women:

• Companies perform better with more diverse teams

• Women’s purchasing power means companies profit from targeting products to women

Benefits for other women:

• When women are not involved in STEM, new products, innovations and advancements are not made with a female perspective in mind

• With more women in STEM, technological advancements and medical breakthroughs will be made to benefit women

Case Study: Violence Against Women

Website in Rio De Janeiro

• Online website/ smartphone app that brings together information on support services for women and girls who are survivors of violence

• Provides abuse hotline numbers, information about rights and locations of Specialized Women’s Attention Centres

• Supported by UN Women in partnership with UNICEF and UN-Habitat

UN Women/Gisele Netto

UN Women/Gisele Netto

UN Women/Gisele Netto

Case Study: Rural Women Light Up the Pacific Project

• Program where Pacific women are trained as solar engineers

• They then build solar technology for their villages

• These women gain more power and influence in their villages and defy traditional gender roles

• Supported by UN Women in partnership with Barefoot College

UN Women Pacific/ Olivia Owen

UN Women

UN Women

Benefits for the economy:

• A gender imbalance in STEM fields is economically inefficient

• Estimated that closing the gender gap in STEM fields has the potential to add 11% per year to Australia’s GDP

• In the future, 9 out of 10 jobs will require skills in STEM fields. Jobs that require STEM skills are set to outpace all others within the next ten years. Even currently, there are 3 million unfilled jobs in STEM fields.

Benefits for everyone:

• STEM fields will be the answer to the many problems that are facing the world today • Food security • Infectious diseases• Climate change• Loss of biodiversity• And many more…

• So the more people in STEM, the better the world will be equipped to deal with the many challenges that we face ahead

The Australian National Committee for UN Women

Panel

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Fast Facts about our Avanade

Panel Sandy AbrahamsVice President Capability Lead

Cassandra JonesGroup Manager

Azure and Office 365

Jane HeadonDirector

Digital Strategy

Years in IT Over 25 years 24 years 16 years

STEM Course you completed

Bachelor of Applied Science (IT)at the same time as Bachelor of Business (Acctg)

Computer Science BSc (Hons) Bachelor of Science - Biochemistry major

Pathway to now Software development, ERP implementations, IT and Business Consulting, CIO.

Data entry, computer support, technical design, pre-sales solution architect, practice manager

IT Project Office, Software development, web and collaboration technologies, IT consulting

Why did you choose IT

It was an accident. I was going to be an accountant, but did a double degree that introduced me to IT and loved it

I had a knack for it; it just made sense

Was ready to branch out from working in the lab and wanted to try a new role/new industry.

Favourite quote “The definition of insanity is doing something over and over again and expecting a different result”

“Leadership is doing the right thing, management is doing things right” Peter Drucker

“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”Maya Angelou

Women are vastly underrepresented across

STEM fields

• In 2011, the percentage of qualified women employed in STEM fields in Australia was only 28%

• In 2011, only 33% of tertiary qualifications in STEM fields were awarded to women

• In 2013, around only 6.6% of all female Year 12 students in Australia studied an advanced level mathematics subject

Why are women underrepresented in

STEM?

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• Widely held stereotypes mean that we associate certain careers with masculinity and others with being feminine

• For example, teaching and nursing are widely seen as typically female or feminine careers

• On the other hand, maths and engineering are viewed as masculine fields more suited to males

• These views can have a huge impact on young girls’ career aspirations

Stereotypes

Unconscious bias

• Stereotypes mean that parents and teachers can develop unconscious bias that they can pass on to their children and students, without even meaning to.

• Studies have shown that when students show interest or academic achievement in maths or science subjects, boys are much more encouraged by parents and teachers to translate this interest into a career path

• Research shows that if girls are told that boys generally perform better on a test than girls, then this is likely to translate into the girls performing worse.

Girls’ self assessment

• “Self-assessment” means how we view our own abilities

• Research shows that girls are pretty hard on themselves when it comes to academic achievement, especially in subjects traditionally perceived as being more suitable for boys

• Girls’ self-assessment of their abilities can therefore hold them back from pursuing studies and careers in STEM fields because they are less likely to believe that they will succeed in a STEM field

Lack of visible female role models in STEM

• The lack of women in STEM careers has created a small pool of women to act as role models for girls

• This doesn’t mean that there aren’t female STEM role models out there!

• They are just harder to find than male role models for boys

STEM Role Models

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Marissa Mayer

• Joined Google in 1999 as the company’s 20th employee and its first female engineer

• Played instrumental roles in developing well-known features like Google Images, Google Maps, Google Books and Gmail

• Became CEO of Yahoo! in 2012

• In 2013, she led Yahoo! in a $1.1 billion acquisition of Tumblr

Ethan Miller/Getty Images

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Brina Lee

• First female software engineer at Instagram

• Has also worked at Google, Yahoo! and Facebook

• “You can’t build products that we are all going to use and have them built just by men”

ELLE Magazine

Dr Fiona Wood

• Developed a breakthrough product known as “spray-on skin”

• Dr Wood’s world-leading research and contribution in the treatment of burns led her to being awarded Australian of the Year in 2005

• Western Australia’s only female plastic surgeon

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Ho

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Lily Serna

• Australian mathematician who you may know as the resident “numbers expert” and co-host of SBS TV show “Letters and Numbers”

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Jocelyn Goldfein

• Director of engineering at Facebook

• Has worked on some of Facebook’s most well-known products, such as Photos, and the recently revamped News Feed

Facebook

Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

• Famous for playing Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler on the popular TV show ‘The Big Bang Theory’

• Not only does Mayim play the character of a neuroscientist on TV, but she is actually a neuroscientist herself and completed a PhD

Mayim Bialik

CBS

CBS

Sarah Adam-Gedge

• Managing director of Avanade Australia

• Since joining Avanade, has increased the number of women by about 10%

Perth Now

"Everybody's job in the future is going to involve technology. It's becoming less discretionary and more mandatory…The jobs we think are important now, may not exist in the future. We have to keep moving."

Denise Goldsworthy

• Managing director of Rio Tinto’s subsidiary company, Dampier Salt, one of the world’s largest private salt producers

• Within the first 2 years of her appointment as Managing Director, sales of Dampier Salt increased by 550%

• Telstra Australian Business Woman of the Year in 2010

Marie Nirme

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Pathways to finding a career in STEM

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Follow these steps:

If you have NOT yet picked the subjects for your final exams: • Consider studying science or maths for your final exams • If you already study maths or science, consider pushing yourself to a

higher level • Attend a STEM related holiday camp

If you HAVE already picked the subjects for your final exams:• If you already study science or maths, consider pushing yourself to a

higher level • Research bridging courses for STEM related degrees • Research scholarship opportunities for STEM related degrees

If you are at university: • Consider taking up a STEM related elective subject or changing to a

STEM degree• Research scholarship opportunities for STEM related degrees

More steps for everyone:

• Find a female role model in STEM that inspires you and research her pathway to success

• Become a member of the Australian National Committee for UN Women – join a network of women looking out for other women

• Remember: it’s never too late to start a career in STEM!

Scholarship and internship opportunitiesHere are just a few examples!

• The Department of Engineering at the University of NSW offers theVida Balshaw Women in Engineering Scholarship, the Alexandria Ada Lam Scholarship in Engineering for Female Students and many more

• The “Science 50:50” Program at UNSW creates internship opportunities for girls to get experience in scientific careers

• The Government of South Australia, Office for Women, offers Edith Dornwell Internships for Women in STEM

Questions

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Thank you