Empowering women in industry
LAST Thursday the Transition Year students of St. Mary’s attended the I WISH science fair. The main aim of the event was to empower women to take up jobs related to STEM topics (science, technology, engineering and maths).
Currently only 25 per cent of people working in STEM jobs are women. One of the speakers at the convention, Caroline O’Driscoll (I WISH Co-Founder), revealed how in her niece’s class there is only one girl – out of a class of 50 students – studying physics for the Leaving Certificate.
She labelled this “heartbreaking” as she believes women have a lot more potential, adding that the stereotypes that existed when she was our age still live on today. Caroline believes that girls are sometimes scared to do something out of the ordinary and pursue what they want to pursue as a career because it’s not seen as “the norm”.
There were many speakers on the day, all women, who were promoting the idea of empowering women in science, including Gillian Keating, Kathy Chou and Ruth Buckley. Each speaker had a different experience with science and their own unique story to tell. After the speakers had finished, the students were allowed to go and visit the exhibition where science, technology and engineering companies gave an insight into what goes on in their industries. And there were free items too provided by each company, all of which were gladly accepted.
The Transition Year students agreed that the conference was both empowering and insightful. While listening to all of the wonderful female speakers, it became clear that more women should be working in STEM jobs. Whether you want to be an engineer, accountant or scientist, there is an opportunity for each and every student out there, including us women.