Do you know Generation A?
DigitalES has developed an initiative to help awaken the scientific and technological vocations of young women in Spain.
The figures for university enrolment in engineering and architecture in recent years have not been encouraging. According to the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, from the academic year 2010-2011 to 2016-2017 there has been a fall of 33%, the largest of all when compared with the rest of the branches of study.
Although more girls are enrolled in Spanish universities, when it comes to technical careers, they represent the minority. This is the case in the so-called STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) degrees, where, for example, in the field of Engineering and Architecture, where they have a representation of 25%.
Percentage of those enrolled in Spanish universities, academic year 2017-2018. Source: Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport.
“The ABC of Gender Equality in Education: Aptitude, Behaviour, Confidence”, presented by the OECD, outlines three main points of this reason:
1. Lower self-confidence of girls or women.
2. Preference for more socially oriented careers
3. Combination of stereotypes and social expectations
This volume gap between boys and girls in university technology careers may further accelerate the gender gap among STEM professionals, leading to less diversity in teams and eventually affecting organisations as a whole.
In this context, from Onivia we wanted to be part of the first campaign initiative of DigitalES association, in collaboration with the Women and Engineering project of the Royal Academy of Engineering: “Generation A”. This is a campaign in which 44 STEM professionals, among them our director of
our systems director Laura Parra, star in videos aimed at girls from the age of 12. In them, they tell why they chose a technical career, what their professional experience has been like or what their day-to-day life is like.
Generation A” are all the girls who are called to lead the next technological change.