GOA Catalyst Conference » Women in STEM: Why Are There So Few?
Problem: There are a disproportionate amount of women working in STEM fields. How can we educate others on the causes and solutions for this gender imbalance, as well as their unequal treatment within the field?
Alternatives: A poster with fewer stats and more descriptions, along with resources for women/girls who are into STEM. Like a poster you’d hang up at school.
http://www.esa.doc.gov/sites/default/files/womeninstemagaptoinnovation8311.pdfLinks to an external site.
http://www.alphr.com/technology/1000773/the-uncomfortable-truth-about-sexism-in-techLinks to an external site.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/stella-kasdagli/should-women-avoid-jobs-in-stem_b_5549016.htmlLinks to an external site.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP3cyRRAfX0Links to an external site.
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmselect/cmsctech/701/70102.htmLinks to an external site.
http://valleywag.gawker.com/this-is-why-there-arent-enough-women-in-tech-1221929631Links to an external site.
https://www.salon.com/2015/06/01/women_in_stem_still_getting_the_worst_advice_on_workplace_harassment_i_suggest_you_put_up_with_it_with_good_humor_if_you_can/Links to an external site.
http://www.macleans.ca/society/life/why-there-are-still-far-too-few-women-in-stem/Links to an external site.
It’s critical that you help the audience understand why you think this is an important issue.
As a female student who is looking to pursue an education (and likely a career) in engineering in university next year, I want draw attention to the unequal treatment of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) as well as the disproportionate number of women currently in STEM fields. By organizing research and data I aim to educate as many kinds of people as possible. This includes people who currently work in STEM to reevaluate the conditions of their position and workplace, as well as those who don’t work in those fields to educate them on the gender imbalance in STEM. I also hope to gear my project to prospective girls who are considering STEM fields study as a means to empower them and their interests, as I would’ve liked to have received the same when I was younger.
Within your presentation be sure to clearly identify how you create change to address the issue.
Your audience for these presentations will be diverse and most people will not have expert-level knowledge of your issue. Be sure to take this into account when designing your content.
As mentioned in my response to Question 1, my project is aimed at a very wide audience to spread awareness on this issue from those who have no associations with working in STEM to prospective students who are looking to study in those fields.
I drafted 5 different layout considerations as well as sketched out some assets to see how they would occupy the page. I actually quite like the computer and woman-at-desk illustration so I will be cleaning those up to use in my final.
Here is the development of my final design. I decided to incorporate the elements that I liked the best in my drafts, such as the graphs and placements of the icons. I ended up choosing the brownish color scheme for the background, as I thought the pink was too striking. I did use it sparingly in the final design, however.
– changing color and font for readability (middle box).
– make the words on graph a bit bigger so it is more readable.
I love your project! I completely agree with all the point you have made, and I hope today’s youth will continue to push society to improve by encouraging girls to pursue STEM fields. Personally, Science and Math are my favorite subjects, and I hope to study Physics or Cosmology when I go to college. Overall, I really liked your presentation and I hope you continue to advocate for girls as you begin your career in Engineering. Good luck in College!
Peggy- I really enjoyed your website! I think that the gender disparity in STEM fields needs to be addressed- and I was very excited to see your website on the front page 🙂 Your infographics were eye-opening and visually stunning. I hope to see more of your work!
Peggy, this is such a great project! I can tell you put a lot of work in to it. Last summer I was accepted to a free coding camp for teenage girls. Since then, my eyes have really been opened to the gender gap in stem fields and everything many organizations are doing to counteract these disparities. I’m glad to see that a lot of young girls are getting more encouraged these days than they were even 5 years ago! I’m currently working with an organization called CoderGals to start teaching an after school coding program for elementary school girls at my local elementary school. Although they won’t be doing anything advanced, it’s the encouragement and the sparking of their interest in coding that really matters for the future. We are in an age of feminism, and gaining equal representation is a huge part of that. Thanks for your project.