That Could Be Me: Why STEM Needs Visible Women

By Rhian Kerton, ​Head of Learning, Teaching and Student Experience, University of South Wales

My daughters are very able in maths and have always had fantastic additional support from their primary school to ensure that they are challenged. I remember my older daughter coming home from primary school one day to tell me that her teacher could no longer stretch her in maths so they were planning to bring in someone external once a week with higher maths skills. Fantastic, I thought. On chatting about this some more though it was clear that the message she had actually understood was that her female maths teacher wasn’t very good at sums so they were going to bring in a man. And this is despite having an engineer for a mother!

Having been into a number of schools as a STEM ambassador it is so clear that the message needs to get out to the next generation when they are very young. In my personal career journey, I have never experienced any negative gender bias. What I have seen is that it’s more about not enough women wanting STEM careers than women wanting them and being told they don’t make the grade.

Strong female role models are key, seeing a successful woman in STEM could make all the difference to young girls and women wondering whether they have what it takes. Having an inspiring mentor will encourage women to believe ‘that could be me’.