The Stemettes initiative – a collection of women and organisations from the UK’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) sector – launched at Google Campus in London on Tuesday 12th February 2013. One of the key speakers, Lopa Patel MBE, Founder of Redhotcurry.com, described her career path from studying computer science, followed by biochemistry into marketing, journalism and lately entrepreneurship and highlighted the fact that futures jobs were most likely to be in the technology sector. With the number of women in the UK’s STEM workforce dropping by 4% to 13% in 2012 and two-thirds of women graduating from STEM subjects deciding to not take up STEM roles, the Stemettes project’s slogan of ‘Girls do Science too’ hopes to reverse this trend in the future. The Stemettes launch event saw 100 women and girls, along with male ‘Stemette sympathisers’ meet for an interactive discussion, games and networking.
Baroness Susan Greenfield CBE, a member of the House of Lords, neuroscientist and Professor of Pharmacology at Oxford University said “I think Stemettes is a fabulous initiative. Girls need to be told that it’s not just about putting on a white coat and being a dysfunctional nerd in the lab; it could be about media, politics, commerce, patenting or law. There are so many sectors in society that value someone with a science background.”
Founder of Stemettes Anne-Marie Imafidon plans to inspire a new generation of females into STEM careers by showcasing the excellent women already in the sector via a series of panel events, hackathons and exhibitions. “I’ve loved technology since I was 4 – typing up the story of Red Riding Hood, saving it and then coming back to it changed my life. This was my creation and my creativity being enabled by a computer.” Anne-Marie went on to pass GCSEs in Mathematics and ICT aged 10 and was the youngest girl ever to pass A-level Computing aged 11. She finished her Masters degree in Mathematics and Computer Science at Oxford University aged 20.
Anne-Marie hopes that Stemettes project will help younger girls can explore their passions for STEM and envisage their own future in a STEM career. The first Stemettes panel, at the Charles Darwin House, home of the Biology Society and Biochemistry Society will take place on 7th March 2013. It will feature women from across the sector talking candidly about their science-based careers and networking with female students. It incorporates a network of ‘Stemette Supporters’ who are organisations working to increase the number of females in Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics, or significant women in the field.
The Stemettes project believes that by allowing girls and their parents to meet and interact with women in STEM, some of the misconceptions, fears and stereotypes will fall away and allow a generation of girls to fully participate in STEM and have influence in the technology & science fuelled world of tomorrow.
Find out more about the Stemettes at their website.