Anyone who knows me for more than five minutes will work out there are three things I really can’t abide – hypocrisy, inconsistency and, more than anything else, feeling patronised. I’m sure I’m not wholly innocent of the first two – if I claimed as much, there would probably be a long line of family, friends and colleagues vying for position to put me right. As for the third, I guess it’s largely up to me what I feel about things, but all too often it’s difficult not to feel vaguely patronised, particularly when it comes to rooms of people talking about women and STEM.
That’s why I am so pleased to see more women coming out and telling a different narrative about their life working in STEM fields or studying STEM subjects; a positive and encouraging story of excitement, challenge, fun and achievement rather than the usual chain of issues, barriers, difficulties and setbacks. In this case, it’s Jennifer Purvis working at Lotus who was featured in The Guardian’s Women and Leadership pages on 16 June 2014 . She talks engagingly about the excitement of her work and also the satisfaction of being part of a close knit and supportive, even if largely male, team – both things that I certainly experienced in my days working in chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing. She talks positively about encouraging girls to consider careers in engineering which is exactly what we need everyone to do, rather than too often feeding them mixed messages about wanting more girls to study physics and engineering but in the next breath detailing the difficulties that the job (or any job) might entail. Ah but – I hear you say – her father is also an engineer; yes, and we know family influences are important, but that simply demonstrates why we need to get our communication about the positives of engineering better and more effective. After all, what caring parent wants their child to embark on something that people tell them is potentially hostile and fraught with difficulty. No wonder so many children of engineers – male and female – become engineers themselves; they know what a great job it really is.
Certainly for myself and those women I know who have worked in engineering, we couldn’t agree more with Jennifer’s view that engineering is a great place to be. We all need to be communicating better to girls – and their teachers, parents and other influencers – the huge variety of opportunity, environments and activities that the simple word ‘engineering’ can mean. We need to do this honestly and without falling into the trap of trying to ‘feminise’ it in ways which are themselves stereotypical and patronising.
The reason I do the job I have now is that I genuinely want more young people – girls and boys – to understand what a fabulous springboard STEM subjects, such as engineering, can be. This doesn’t mean wanting a world full of engineers – heavens, what a thought! Rather it’s about conveying the excitement, potential, rewards and unbelievable range of opportunities to which a solid grounding in STEM can lead, within a ‘traditional’ STEM career, in emerging technologies or creating the technologies and jobs that don’ yet exist!
It’s great to see some of these messages being reflected in the new #YourLife campaign, and I hope this can provide some real impetus for the positive change we need. So let’s give more air time to Jennifer and others working in these environments who can inspire and engage through positive messages, and let the next generation see the exciting opportunities, rather than hypothetical disadvantages, ahead.
STEM teachers should also a look at our STEM Careers Conference which occurs every year in late June.