Encouraging girls to get into engineering
A new workshop series is looking to stem the tide of testosterone in engineering by encouraging young girls who show interest in the field.
About a tenth of New Zealand engineers are women, so the Hello Cafe workshop organisers want to increase this number by teaming up project groups of 10-13 year-old girls with women working in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.
Hello Cafe will involve series of 10 workshops in seven cities around the country, including Palmerston North. It is set to start in two weeks.
Organiser and Massey University engineering lecturer Jane Goodyer said she hoped the girls would get to know their engineering mentors over the course, and keep in touch with them for advice and support throughout their schooling.
A manufacturing engineer by trade, Goodyer said perceptions of STEM subjects as male dominated industries could turn girls off pursuing study at a young age.
A 2013 Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand study found 13 per cent of professional engineers and 16 per cent of engineering technicians were female.
‘‘I have seen this throughout my engineering career... it’s a worldwide problem and there is no good reason for it.’’
Goodyer said research showed girls tended to want to help people in their careers, so the workshops were built around what she called ‘humanitarian engineering.’
‘‘We have designed Hello Cafe´ workshops around real life problems that people are facing around the world to try and tap into this.
‘‘The aim is to encourage girls to see STEM as a way they can really make a difference.’’
The workshops are focused projects like designing shelters, or maintaining clean water, for people displaced by war or natural diaster.
One of the first to sign up was Palmerston North 10-year-old Kera Mather. Her father, Jason Mather, is an engineer and Kera has taken a keen interest in his projects.
‘‘If I’m working on something she’ll be standing around having a look, or she’ll see me doing some engineering drawings [and check them out]. [And] she loves building things’’ he said.
Kera said the project she was most excited for involved designing and building refugees. toilets for
The Palmerston North and New Plymouth workshops are full, but spaces are still available in Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua, Gisborne, and Dunedin.
See www.hellocafe.co.nz to learn more.