Since the 1980s, the number of women in STEM careers has dropped by 24% in Spain. Why? We reflect on this version of the gender gap that United Way España combats in collaboration with major tech companies.
Studying is a path full of questions and answers. There’s one that everyone faces at some point in childhood: What do you want to be when you grow up? The answer always triggers raised eyebrows, evasive eyes and a certain stalling hum that provides some room until landing on a concrete list of professions seen at home, on TV, in toys… and at school.
In secondary education, according to its professionals, the clear verbalization of doubt is common: What do I want to work in? No idea. But there are cases where the doubt also carries an unsettling denial, as when adolescent girls are presented with the range of future professional opportunities and they respond firmly: I don’t see myself in that technology thing.
Deep into the 21st century there are still many young women who continue to have a vision of their professional future that isn’t much associated with determining how things work. Perhaps that’s why the number of female students in STEM careers (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) is decreasing and yet, care-related professions such as hairdressing, beauty or nursing remain a recurring choice among teenage girls, especially in vulnerable communities. Nothing wrong with those professions, but here’s another question: should we be concerned that female presence in technical and technological careers is declining?
Esperanza Martín, one of the social intervention professionals United Way España trusts with its education programs, gives us a few keys. To start, an objective fact: giving up technology means giving up a huge percentage of job opportunities. We live in a world literally crisscrossed by technology, and it’s increasingly evident that half of the jobs of the future haven’t even been invented yet. “Technology is in everything and new generations must, at the very least, learn to use it,” says Esperanza.
In the workshops she runs for United Way, such as the recent MujeresTech at a school in Madrid, they use a formula to avoid the dead end of “I’m not going to be good at that.” Just change the question, and with it lighten the burden on whoever has to answer it: What would you like to improve?
That’s where the shift in outlook on one’s own room for maneuver begins, starting with the school itself; sometimes it’s a vending machine for the school hallway, other times a CO2 meter to ensure breathable air in the classroom, other times less prosaic topics like tech art or electronic music. The point is to identify a need tied to their daily life and work through the steps technology offers to build a solution. Testing, “tinkering.” Along the way, teaching staff at the school and a number of volunteers from major companies like NTT Data and Lenovo actively participate, rounding out the perspective, offering precise data and, above all, showing a very clear horizon of where all this exercise can take them professionally.
With all that thread they weave debate, reflection and learning until they build a simple prototype. And it’s right at that point when the most important question is asked: Who wants to present their project? The workshops coordinated by United Way España include a public presentation—often at the offices of the companies providing their corporate volunteers—crucial for cementing that new self-perception among participants. Esperanza insists that this lack of confidence in public presentation is something worked on with all students, “no one is neglected due to gender”; but the fact is that the girls tend to have greater difficulties and, most surprisingly, keep presenting very differently when their male classmates are not present.
Fortunately the answer also surprises when asked what they got out of the workshop: Knowing that I can. In principle, they’re referring to tackling a technological task, but the phrase sparks the imagination in many other areas of everyday power. And that’s exactly the reason for our work. As if it were a precise mechanism, we see time and again the real, effective impact of these technological games in which United Way involves companies, teachers and social entities to spark something in the minds of those beginning their journey in life.
We would love to have a clear answer to the question of the decline of women in STEM careers. Some discourses recommend linking technology to the common good and sustainability to attract more women. Some point to the lack of role models in female scientists or engineers as the root of the problem. The digital divide is also identified as a determining factor, because those without access to computers, a mobile phone or even internet connection participate in society at a disadvantage (something common among women in vulnerable communities).
In any case, the idea is not to encourage the use of technology just for the sake of it, but rather quite the opposite: to promote a critical awareness of what is technical and technological, for which knowledge and active participation without barriers are essential.
Even if we don’t see it at first glance, things like BIG DATA and artificial intelligence affect and will affect one hundred percent of the areas of life (including hairdressers, beauty centers and hospitals). That’s why we must prepare new generations, whoever they are, to participate in designing the future world, determining how things work in a way that doesn’t take away opportunities from anyone.
The feminist perspective—increasingly transversal and detached from gender itself—is fundamental to properly defining the questions and answers that build society. Why would it be any less important in the technological field?
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