Guest writer Natalie Buckley, PhD, weighs in on the STEM debate and asks – are we failing our future generation of female scientists, engineers and mathematicians?
When I was a teenager, I decided that I wanted to study sports science. It was a fairly new area of study that played to my interest in science and how the body worked, combined with my love of sport.
I remember telling my parents about my decision and they immediately encouraged me to go for what I wanted. Little did I know they were not even sure what sports science was!
Both of my parents took the time to study my unusual subject choice, find out what it was all about, and understand what career options it offered. In my final year of high school, they took me to student research conferences so that I could immerse myself; these conferences also gave them an opportunity to learn more, too. When I look back, I see clearly that their support, encouragement, and belief gave me the confidence to go after what I wanted.
I’m now the Research and Development Country Lead for Unilever New Zealand and Australia. I’m a legitimate research scientist, and it’s in no small part thanks to my curious and industrious parents.
So how influential are parents in a teenager’s life? For all the challenges parents have with teenage emotions and baffling social decisions, new research shows that for teenage girls, a mother is still the most important influence on her life.
At the same time, we also know science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) jobs are the jobs of the future (and the jobs of now, some would argue). And we know that not enough women are entering these fields.
In fact, new research just out (funded by Sunsilk, a Unilever brand) shows that a tiny 7.6% of women in New Zealand feel empowered to pursue a STEM career, and though this number rises to 21% of teenagers – an encouraging sign – that’s still only one-in-five women. Perhaps equally troubling is that one-in-ten kiwi girls feel pressure to pursue a career that is “more fitting for a woman” – a disheartening finding amid ongoing efforts to change gender stereotypes and limitations.
How does this relate to my parents? The research points out that New Zealand mothers of daughters studying STEM feel woefully ill-equipped to help their daughters. Only 7.8% feel they have a strong understanding of STEM subjects. That means most mothers, the biggest influence on their teenage girl’s life, won’t be able to help their daughters learn STEM.
Let’s face it – STEM doesn’t exactly lend itself to simplicity (there’s some irony in the fact it forms a simple abbreviation!) What does a software engineer do, anyway? What is an information architect? What does a research scientist do in practice? So many of us don’t know the answer to these questions; how can we be expected to even suggest these career options to our kids?
This lack of familiarity and confidence in STEM subjects is mirrored in the absence of Kiwi women in later studies, with the number of females studying STEM halving from high school to tertiary level, and falling further in postgraduate and Masters/PhD levels (4.6% and 2.4% respectively).
What we have is a perpetual cycle where mothers do not feel they can help their daughters. It’s more than, “what you can’t see, you can’t be.” For young women, the message is, “you can’t see, you can’t be, and the most influential people around you can’t help with that degree.”
I believe to break this cycle, we need to address some of the myths associated with STEM. The truth is, there is a lot of creativity, imagination, and discovery involved in STEM subjects – and it can be accessible to everyone.
I’m really proud that Sunsilk has partnered up with Girl Geek Academy to offer free, fun, entry-level online STEM courses to inspire both mums and daughters. These are pitched at teenagers but will be just as important and useful for parents to build their confidence.
Some of the projects on offer include exploring the science of hair, using technology to code a mother-daughter video game, and engineering your own shampoo bottle.
At the moment, there’s a real movement to reclaim the colour pink and make it about much more than traditional ideas of femininity. Pink may originally have been a colour “fitting for a woman,” but let’s change what “fitting for a woman” means. Let’s make pink about high-paying, creative and meaningful work. For me, when I think of pink, I think of Siouxsie Wiles’ hair colour, and I associate it with her intellect, humour, and amazing communication skills.
I am grateful for my parents and especially for my mother, who really and truly went the extra mile to support my career choices. If you have a daughter, and you want to support her, please consider joining in the fun with the Girl Geek Academy, or even just doing some Googling about potential career options in STEM for her. You could change her life, and yours, too.
