CLOSING GENDER GAP ON STEM
A GIRLS-ONLY conference is aimed at closing the gender gap in science professionals through mentorship.
St Patrick’s College Dean of Innovation Annie Van Homrigh said girls were more than capable to be highly successful in these industries but often had a lack of self confidence.
“There’s a big body of research that says there’s a gender gap in STEM; it’s starting to close, we’re getting more women in medicine, but engineering, maths degrees, data science and analytics and physics are still very much underrepresented.
“We tailor the conference to girls between 10 and 15 because that’s when girls disconnect from STEM and for whatever reason they lose confidence, so we wanted a day that was empowering, fun and confidence.”
Students from almost 30 schools from around Townsville and North Queensland will attend the STEM conference today, an initiative by St Patrick’s College Townsville to inspire a new generation of women opting for science, technology, engineering and maths careers.
Year 7 student Charlie Pacey said inspiring even from a young age she had always been certain of pursuing a career in science.
“I’m definitely sure nothing will change my mind; it’s more interesting than any other careers I’ve looked at that aren’t related to STEM,” she said.
“I just love … looking into everyday normal things that you see in life and just wanting to get a deeper understanding of how everything works.”