A special ‘Meet the Stemettes’ panel event is being held at the London and Dublin offices of Bank of America Merrill Lynch to celebrate the recent Ada Lovelace Day.
On 7 November, Bank of America Merrill Lynch will host the events, with the Stemettes aiming to improve the take up of STEM careers by women – those interested can learn more here.
2012 saw a stark drop off in women in the STEM workforce in the UK (13pc), with a small recovery in progress (14pc in 2014), but two-thirds of female STEM graduates don’t pursue careers in their chosen field.
In Ireland, the figures are far better, with 25pc of the STEM workforce made up of women, but even that is way off where it should be.
The panel will include women who run engineering teams, biochemists, technologists and mathematicians, with a ‘mystery man’ included and Laura Tobin confirmed, too.
I'm delighted to announce that I will be one of the panellists & I cannot wait! #STEM #womenintech #scicomm @Stemett…https://t.co/RziFvafblh
— Laurie (@choiceIrregular) October 28, 2015
They will discuss their own career paths and provide a unique opportunity for girls to meet and network with women already working in STEM professions.
“I’ve loved technology since I was four – typing up the story of Red Riding Hood, saving it and then coming back to it changed my life,” said Anne-Marie Imafidon of the Stemettes.
“This was my creation and my creativity being enabled by a computer,” added Imafidon, who was the youngest girl ever to pass an A-level in computing in the UK, aged just 11.
“As part of our focus on addressing youth employment, initiatives like this are a valuable opportunity to encourage more girls to consider a career in STEM,” said Lee Nicholls, EMEA technology executive for Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
“Stemettes is a catalyst for more women to consider a career in STEM. Our goal is that, through collaborative efforts like this, we can challenge perceptions of what it is like to work in STEM and inspire more female students to consider a career in the sector.”
Women Invent is Silicon Republic’s campaign to champion the role of women in science, technology, engineering and maths. It has been running since March 2013, and is kindly supported by Intel, Open Eir (formerly Eircom Wholesale), Fidelity Investments, Accenture and CoderDojo.
