Morven McColl, Programme Executive, Young Enterprise Scotland, said:
“Over the course of four weeks of the virtual STEM workshops, I delivered workshops to support the girls in developing a marketing campaign that would encourage more young women into STEM based careers. It was a delight to work with these fantastic, driven young women through the project and I was so impressed by the levels of dedication, creativity and enthusiasm shown. The final marketing campaigns were of a high standard; I think this demonstrates why getting young people themselves to create messaging that will attract their peers is so valuable. Who better to influence girls interested in STEM than their peers?”
Shona Darroch, HR Business Partner, Diodes Semiconductors GB Ltd, said:
“I was delighted to be asked to be part of the Women in Stem project. We must do all we can to support more women into and returning to STEM related careers and this project gave me and Diodes a chance to work with other companies to share ideas and best practice. It also was a great way to support our current female engineering apprentices, in what is still a male dominated environment. But with projects like this, we can hopefully start to even out the gender gap that engineering has.”
Paul Fagan, Head of Employability, West College Scotland said:
“Our Partnership recognises that there is an acute gender imbalance in the Scottish manufacturing sector and engineering workforce. Whilst the gender imbalance is extreme, there are significant opportunities within manufacturing and engineering trades, with the latest Regional Skills Assessment forecasting demand for 5,700 jobs in the west region alone by 2027. Our project can empower women to access and develop in these valuable jobs, through the development of robust skills pipelines. For our College and our partners, this positive action reflects a commitment to putting equality and diversity at the core of our delivery.”
William Forrest, Operations Manager for Engineering, Forth Valley College, said:
“We are delighted to be involved in this exciting initiative in order to encourage more women to consider a career in engineering. Our world needs engineers to innovate and make changes which improve our lives and reduce our harm to the planet. This partnership will raise awareness of the wide range of opportunities out there and encourage more young women to be a part of the fourth industrial revolution.”
Laura Smith-Gulliver, Training and Development Manager, Equate Scotland said:
“The jobs of the future will rely on STEM skills, driven by an innovative and diverse workforce - vital to navigating a post-COVID world, climate change and other global challenges. Improvements in workplace equality are being made - but still persists in the attitudes, actions and processes of employers and society including how girls are encouraged to view their future workplaces and how women in STEM are supported and empowered when they get there. With STEM industries still dominated by men, women can face a challenging working environment - building networks, have fewer role models, and less peer support.”
“The Women into STEM project aims to develop local solutions to support more young women into engineering by understanding the pathways, challenges and barriers women face in addition to recruiting and supporting women aged 16-24 into STEM careers including Modern and Graduate Apprenticeships."
“By working closely with partners, education, industry and employers, the project will develop sustainable local career pipelines to benefit young women in Renfrewshire and Forth Valley now and in the future.”