Progress made on Stem education for women, says iWish

Gillian Keating, right, iWish co-founder, speaking at the event alongside Michaela O'Rourke, Dell Technologies and iWish Alumni, Caroline O'Driscoll, iWish co-founder and Partner, Deloitte, and Sharon Lombard, Operations director and board member, iWish, at the Cork Chamber Business Breakfast, sponsored by RDJ and The Irish Examiner, at Cork International Airport. Picture: Larry Cummins

Significant progress has been made in encouraging more women to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem) but it was a "travesty" that these subjects are still viewed by some as being more suited to boys.

The Cork Chamber Business Breakfast event today heard a panel discussion from the key members of iWish, the volunteer-led organisation that showcases Stem to female secondary school students.

Co-founder of iWish Gillian Keating said that the challenges of climate change and future technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) meant female participation was more important than ever.

"We need women to be able to participate fully in the economy of the future. We need to ensure that with AI, we need the brightest and technical minds, both male and female to ensure that it remains helpful, honest and not harmful.

"We need to ensure that young girls have the skills necessary to transform our world."

Keating said it was a "travesty" that Stem  subjects are still viewed by some as more suited to boys that girls.

"We moved from economy first to female first. Determined to ensure that we would be able to leverage the skills and capabilities that young girls deserve to shape a better world."

At the event, iWish co-founder Caroline O'Driscoll encouraged businesses in the Stem field to show girls what it is like in their sector. "If a girl attends three or more extracurricular Stem events, she is more likely to choose Stem subjects for her Leaving Cert. It does make a difference."

Changing behaviours

The panellist said that over the past ten years, iWish has made a significant impact. "Today, 84% of girls want to know more about Stem, that was just 53% ten years ago. Today 93% of girls are likely to reject the notion that Stem is more suited to boys. That was 78% ten years ago so attitudes and behaviours are changing.

"In the previous ten years to when we started iWish there had been no improvement in female participation in Stem. In the ten years since iWish, female participation in college courses in Stem have improved from 29% to 36% with 60% improvement in ICT and engineering alone. That's not all down to iWish but we are highly proud of the role we have played and 63,000 girls have now participated in the programme."