More women need to consider STEM careers.
That was the message at the heart of a statement, made by Employment and Learning Minister, Stephen Farry, on gender issues relating to employment, learning and skills.
Speaking to the Assembly, the Minister highlighted a range of gender equality issues facing Northern Ireland in particular highlighting that females, despite gaining strong educational attainments in the further and higher education fields, are much less likely than males to pursue careers in economically relevant areas such as Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM).
Minister Farry said: “We need an economy in Northern Ireland that operates as efficiently as possible. The World Economic Forum has found a strong correlation between a country’s competitiveness and how it educates and uses the skills of women.
“We need to encourage young women to consider STEM subjects and careers. On leaving school, females tend to be better qualified than males. Females are also more likely to progress to higher education with around 60% of our university enrolments being female.
“However, despite proportionately more females participating in higher education than males, females account for less than 30% of those graduating in STEM subjects (excluding medicine and health). Over 70% of students in ICT and over 75% of those studying Engineering and Technology are male.”
“In apprenticeship schemes, less than 9% of participants in an apprenticeship in science technology, engineering and mathematics or STEM-related areas are female,” he continued.
To address this issue the STEM Business sub-group is running a seminar later this month, entitled ‘Are you getting the balance right?’ in association with the Equality Commission. The seminar will engage with STEM businesses to investigate the issues of gender bias in STEM and assist in identifying additional steps businesses can take to make careers in STEM attractive to women.
Seeking to address the imbalance the minister concluded: :“My Department has a number of initiatives and policies to address these trends. However, I want to ensure our society is aware of these gender issues and their potential impact on key areas for growth.
“The Executive’s Economic Strategy identifies a number of priority growth sectors which include Telecommunications, ICT, Life and Health Sciences, Agrifood, Advanced Materials and Advanced Engineering. Future growth in jobs will be concentrated in these areas and we must ensure equitable access by gender to maximise our local pool of available talent.”
The STEM business seminar takes place on 26 June 2013 12 noon-2pm in Malone House, Belfast. Further details on how to register can be found at http://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk//content/success-through-stem-seminars.