Many teenage girls do not have access to engineering subjects or construction studies in school

Transition-year student Kim Woolfson, from Mount Temple Secondary School, Malahide, launching I Wish’s 2021 survey of female students’ attitudes to STEM and I Wish 2022, the  global STEM event for female secondary school students, which will be held virtually on February 10, 2022. Registrations are open at iwish.ie/register. Picture:Naoise Culhane 

Many teenage girls interested in pursuing a career in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) do not have access to engineering subjects in school.

I Wish, an initiative that encourages young women into STEM, has called for a rethink of how school subjects are presented, as it publishes the results of its annual survey. The study, the largest of its kind in Ireland, found that 78% of the  girls who took part believed the lack of subject choice was a gender-specific barrier to a career in STEM. More than half of those surveyed said they were interested in engineering and in construction studies, but did not have access to the subject in school.

Students who do not take a STEM Leaving Cert science subject, or higher-level maths, may still go on to have a career in the field. However, students are less likely to consider such a career if they have not taken a STEM subject.

2,500 girls took part in the annual survey. With the exception of biology and chemistry, female students remain underrepresented in STEM school subjects, particularly in engineering and technology. When asked what factors were important in choosing STEM subjects, just under half of the girls  picked ones where they would 'fit in’'

I Wish was co-founded by Gillian Keating and Caroline O'Driscoll.  

"Fifteen out of the 20 fastest-growing careers in the world require a background in maths or science," Ms Keating said. "However, only 25% of STEM jobs in Ireland are held by females. If girls today perceive obstacles, rather than seeing STEM pathways, we risk excluding them from the economy of the future and the pool of scientists, analysts, and engineers that we so desperately need to secure a better future for us all." 

Ms O'Driscoll said I Wish can see the confidence of girls involved in mentoring. "It's why we launched our mentorship programme with Deloitte Ireland and also why we run our flagship I Wish event, where we ask women to tell their incredible STEM stories. So far, there are 10,000 registrations for February's I Wish 2022 and we encourage every teenage girl in Ireland, and across the world, to attend."