{"id":375,"date":"2022-02-10T15:46:22","date_gmt":"2022-02-10T15:46:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.proprep.uk\/?p=375"},"modified":"2022-02-10T15:46:23","modified_gmt":"2022-02-10T15:46:23","slug":"women-and-girls-in-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/women-and-girls-in-science\/","title":{"rendered":"GUEST POST: It\u2019s time to accelerate the advancement of women in science"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
This blog post has been guest-written by Anita Muathe, in honour of the UN’s International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Anita is one of the 2021 recipients of Proprep’s Bridging the STEM Skills Gap Scholarship. She studies Forensic Science at the University of Central Lancashire.<\/em><\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

In 2015, the United Nations declared 11th February – today! – to be the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. The day’s purpose is to promote full and equal access to participation in science for women and girls. This is in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals 1 (to end poverty) and 5 (to achieve gender equality).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Representation matters<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It’s important and meaningful that an entire day has been set aside to acknowledge women in science. Despite much social progress, many still believe that women are less intelligent, rational, or competent than men, and so do not make capable scientists. Research on biological factors shows that the gender gap in STEM is not the result of innate differences in ability between the sexes. So why are maths and science still seen as “boy subjects”?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Photo credit: Inside Creative House, Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Studies suggest that girls’ disadvantage in STEM is a result of the socialisation process. Damaging stereotypes are both explicitly and implicitly passed onto girls from a young age. When I was in high school, I was definitely expected to excel in languages and arts-based subjects, instead of maths and natural sciences. We also had fewer female role models to look up to. Even in our own school, the science and maths departments were dominated by male teachers. This can be particularly discouraging for young girls, like me, interested in pursuing science-based careers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if they perform just as well as boys in school, fewer girls will choose to take up science courses in their higher education. According to UNESCO data, women represent only 35% of all students enrolled in STEM-related fields. Girls’ confidence, interest, and willingness to engage in STEM subjects is often undermined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even when women do make it into scientific job roles, they are treated differently from their male counterparts. According to UNESCO, women in STEM do not advance as far as men in their careers. They are published less, and paid less for their research. This indicates that improving access to science education for girls is crucial, but not enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why we need women in science<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We need equal representation and participation of the genders in STEM, because many global challenges depend on science for their resolution. Pursuing climate action, sustainability, clean energy, infrastructure and economic growth, can and should involve equal contribution by female and male scientists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Photo credit: LightField Studios, Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A gender imbalance leads to biased one-dimensional research and proposals. Leaving out women and girls is leaving out half of the world\u2019s population. Girls are the greatest untapped population to become the next generation of STEM professionals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, women are globally more deprived than men. Poverty, poor healthcare, lack of education, lack of access to clean water and sanitation, and inhibited economic growth impact women to a greater extent. Solutions to these problems must include female innovation. Our intelligence and creativity, as well as our ambition to advocate for disadvantaged women and girls, make us crucial agents in achieving development goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marking this day allows us to reflect on ways to address the disparities faced by women and girls in science. We can thus begin to make changes to address the inequalities in science careers for women. We can also revitalise young girls, empowering them to follow their science dreams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This blog post has been guest-written by Anita Muathe, in honour of the UN’s International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Anita is one of the 2021 recipients of Proprep’s Bridging the STEM Skills Gap Scholarship. She studies Forensic Science at the University of Central Lancashire. In 2015, the United Nations declared 11th February … <\/p>\n

Read more “GUEST POST: It\u2019s time to accelerate the advancement of women in science”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[21],"tags":[15,9,31,30,14,8,58,56,57],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIt\u2019s time to accelerate the advancement of women in science | Proprep<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Research shows that the STEM gender gap is not the result of differences in ability. So why are maths and science still seen as "boy subjects"?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.proprep.uk\/women-and-girls-in-science\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"It\u2019s time to accelerate the advancement of women in science | Proprep\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Research shows that the STEM gender gap is not the result of differences in ability. So why are maths and science still seen as "boy subjects"?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.proprep.uk\/women-and-girls-in-science\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Welcome to the Proprep blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-02-10T15:46:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-10T15:46:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.proprep.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/shutterstock_1543638764-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1350\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dani\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dani\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.proprep.uk\/women-and-girls-in-science\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.proprep.uk\/women-and-girls-in-science\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dani\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/777142399658c7643cbaff526afd8616\"},\"headline\":\"GUEST POST: It\u2019s time to accelerate the advancement of women in science\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-10T15:46:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-10T15:46:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.proprep.uk\/women-and-girls-in-science\/\"},\"wordCount\":606,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"college\",\"students\",\"study tips\",\"studying\",\"uni\",\"university\",\"women in engineering\",\"women in science\",\"women in STEM\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Diversity\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blog.proprep.uk\/women-and-girls-in-science\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.proprep.uk\/women-and-girls-in-science\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.proprep.uk\/women-and-girls-in-science\/\",\"name\":\"It\u2019s time to accelerate the advancement of women in science | Proprep\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-10T15:46:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-10T15:46:23+00:00\",\"description\":\"Research shows that the STEM gender gap is not the result of differences in ability. So why are maths and science still seen as \\\"boy subjects\\\"?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.proprep.uk\/women-and-girls-in-science\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blog.proprep.uk\/women-and-girls-in-science\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.proprep.uk\/women-and-girls-in-science\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"GUEST POST: It\u2019s time to accelerate the advancement of women in science\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Welcome to the Proprep blog\",\"description\":\"Your guide to surviving student life is right here.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Welcome to the Proprep blog\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/cropped-cropped-Frame-2-2-2-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/cropped-cropped-Frame-2-2-2-1.png\",\"width\":777,\"height\":250,\"caption\":\"Welcome to the Proprep blog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/777142399658c7643cbaff526afd8616\",\"name\":\"Dani\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6dc55e36ebfe61b84ee97345a939ffd4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6dc55e36ebfe61b84ee97345a939ffd4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dani\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/author\/dani\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"It\u2019s time to accelerate the advancement of women in science | Proprep","description":"Research shows that the STEM gender gap is not the result of differences in ability. So why are maths and science still seen as \"boy subjects\"?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blog.proprep.uk\/women-and-girls-in-science\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"It\u2019s time to accelerate the advancement of women in science | Proprep","og_description":"Research shows that the STEM gender gap is not the result of differences in ability. So why are maths and science still seen as \"boy subjects\"?","og_url":"https:\/\/blog.proprep.uk\/women-and-girls-in-science\/","og_site_name":"Welcome to the Proprep blog","article_published_time":"2022-02-10T15:46:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-02-10T15:46:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1350,"url":"https:\/\/blog.proprep.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/shutterstock_1543638764-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dani","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dani","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blog.proprep.uk\/women-and-girls-in-science\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.proprep.uk\/women-and-girls-in-science\/"},"author":{"name":"Dani","@id":"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/777142399658c7643cbaff526afd8616"},"headline":"GUEST POST: It\u2019s time to accelerate the advancement of women in science","datePublished":"2022-02-10T15:46:22+00:00","dateModified":"2022-02-10T15:46:23+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.proprep.uk\/women-and-girls-in-science\/"},"wordCount":606,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["college","students","study tips","studying","uni","university","women in engineering","women in science","women in STEM"],"articleSection":["Diversity"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blog.proprep.uk\/women-and-girls-in-science\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blog.proprep.uk\/women-and-girls-in-science\/","url":"https:\/\/blog.proprep.uk\/women-and-girls-in-science\/","name":"It\u2019s time to accelerate the advancement of women in science | Proprep","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-02-10T15:46:22+00:00","dateModified":"2022-02-10T15:46:23+00:00","description":"Research shows that the STEM gender gap is not the result of differences in ability. So why are maths and science still seen as \"boy subjects\"?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.proprep.uk\/women-and-girls-in-science\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blog.proprep.uk\/women-and-girls-in-science\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blog.proprep.uk\/women-and-girls-in-science\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"GUEST POST: It\u2019s time to accelerate the advancement of women in science"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/","name":"Welcome to the Proprep blog","description":"Your guide to surviving student life is right here.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Welcome to the Proprep blog","url":"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/cropped-cropped-Frame-2-2-2-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/cropped-cropped-Frame-2-2-2-1.png","width":777,"height":250,"caption":"Welcome to the Proprep blog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/777142399658c7643cbaff526afd8616","name":"Dani","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6dc55e36ebfe61b84ee97345a939ffd4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6dc55e36ebfe61b84ee97345a939ffd4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dani"},"url":"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/author\/dani\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":382,"href":"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375\/revisions\/382"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.proprep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}