How to attract more young women into science and tech (infographic)

15 Jan 2014

This morning sees the launch of new research by Accenture, as part of the year-long Women Invent Tomorrow initiative at Silicon Republic. Minister Ciaran Cannon, TD, is launching ‘Powering Economic Growth: Attracting More Young Women Into Science and Technology’ in Dublin.

Why are so few women in jobs that utilise STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) skills and what challenges does this pose for Ireland? These are the issues the research aims to tackle. Accenture sought the views of 1,000 female secondary-school students, young women (age 18-23), secondary-school teachers and parents with daughters in post-primary education.

The goal was to understand what influences secondary school students’ choices of subjects, and in particular STEM-related subjects. The reason: Secondary-school students’ subject decisions affect their course choices at third level and ultimately their career opportunities.

It is the first time that such research has been carried out in Ireland. We’ll be publishing an in-depth look at the research, plus video reports from the launch later today. In the meantime, some of the key findings appear in the infographic below:

Infographic

Click here to download full report (PDF)

Woman engineer image via Shutterstock

Women Invent Tomorrow is Silicon Republic’s year-long campaign to champion the role of women in science, technology, engineering and maths

Ann O’Dea
By Ann O’Dea

Ann O’Dea is CEO and co-founder of Silicon Republic, an online source of science and technology news since 2001. She was also the founder and curator of Inspirefest, a unique international sci-tech event that aimed to disrupt the traditionally homogenous tech conference calendar. Today, that event has evolved into Future Human to showcase the leaders building the products and services for a new tomorrow. Ann is a fellow of the Irish Computer Society and the Institute of Art, Design & Technology. She received a Net Visionary award from the Irish Internet Association in 2015 for her work on ensuring the visibility of women role models in her industry, and was named Media Woman of the Year at the 2014 Irish Tatler Women of the Year Awards. In 2015, she was the first woman to be inducted into the Irish Internet Association’s Hall of Fame. Ann sits on the advisory board of TeenTurn, which provides teenage girls with experience in STEM.

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