During my school days, I never had an opportunity to learn about Technology and Engineering. All the girls at my old school were made to learn home economics like sewing and cookery, whilst the boys were given the opportunity to build their own stuff. I recall a teacher told me that I should choose nursing rather than accounting as it is more suitable for a girl.
The truth is, I always scored the highest for my accounting and maths subjects in my class but I was never encouraged to pursue it. I was never encouraged to look outside the socially acceptable roles and I want to see that changed.
I want my daughter to be given an opportunity to question and know those important skills. As a parent, I want STEM to be made accessible to girls.
STEM should be gender neutral and everyone should have equal opportunities to be able to learn and develop their knowledge. This is why I was especially interested and excited when I first heard about EDF Energy Pretty Curious programme. It focuses on raising awareness of the under-representation of girls in STEM. The programme aims to inspire girls to pursue STEM-related subjects at school and in their future careers. Did you know just one in four people working in core STEM roles in the UK are women?
I think that EDF Energy has executed a brilliant idea for nurturing potential by driving this campaign in schools throughout the whole country, particularly for girls and young women into STEM and in their future careers.
Through the Pretty Curious programme, they enable parents and schools to support girls to give them a real sense of what it might be like to work in STEM careers by providing hands-on experiences and digital content, which you and your child can take part in on the website such as:
Future Me Avatar and Quiz
Create a shareable and personalised avatar in a STEM-related career to picture yourself in a potential future role ranging from a biologist to an electrical engineer. If you are not sure what the future could hold, take the easy personality quiz to see what career may be best suited to your interests.
Virtual Reality Film
Jump in and watch the Pretty Curious virtual reality 360º videos to experience a day in the life of the architect of the Shard, see what it is like to work on a wind farm and explore the offices of a software developer in their STEM jobs. This is a real eye opener for your child.
Thanks to the Pretty Curious Google cardboard headset, Ms C is able to watch the 360˚ virtual reality film and she loves it. These ladies are great inspirations!
Parents Quiz
Be the first to take the new parents quiz and see what STEM-related career would best suit your child. Identify their strengths, plus discover information and guidance on pursuing a career in that particular role once you receive your results. I find this is very useful for me because the more I know, the more I can support our children when they are making life-changing decisions.
This is a long-term commitment from EDF Energy to improve the ratio of women to men including a new generation of STEM advocates. Would you help to spread the word and inspire more girls to join the movement? It would be great if you do share the same thoughts with us to get the message across to the young girls!
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Interesting read. I agree and am keen to support my daughters in all areas of learning.
I think getting girls into STEM roles is important from youth. Remember when most GP’s were male? It all starts with education.
It’s good that girls are being encouraged to think of careers in STEM areas, however what’s also needed is a change in the way corporations treat women. Women are still not valued as employees, are often overlooked for promotion, their opinions are not given the same weight as those of their male colleagues, and there is still routine sexual harassment in industries such as financial services (where I worked for over 30 years).
This is really cool, not to mention important. I’m studying Maths at uni, but to be honest, I’m probably not going to take it forwards into a STEM career. It’s fascinating stuff but the environment is really difficult, and it’s still really hard getting men, even those on the exact same course, to take me seriously. I hope this campaign helps in some way in encouraging girls towards STEM.
I’m feeling very fortunate right now that the schools my kids are going to are really engaging both girls and boys into STEM subjects. I love this new campaign from EDF Energy. Mich x
Thank you for sharing, I believe children should learn based on interests and abilities not gender!
My daughter asked for a chemistry set and a crystal growing kit for Christmas. I was shocked at some of my friends and families reaction to this, especially as i said i fully intend to buy them for her. Im proud that my daughter finds things like this interesting and exciting and i will make sure i give her every opportunity in the future
Thank you for sharing them. Will share them with my friends and relatives too.
I was the same at school wanted to design and woodwork ended up with cooking and sewing. Its great to see there are lots of ways to encourage girls to look at this type of oppertunity
It would be amazing for children to learn what subjects they want based on their abilities and interests and not gender. Well done for raising awareness.
I’m a big fan of STEM subjects for everyone – and my daughter is a scientist. I’m so proud of her 🙂
How disappointing that your school was like that. I went to a girls’ school so Science was just as important as other subjects. It was never my forte but I’ve always been interested and keen to promote it to my children.