By Kelly Gosnay (＠kellygosnay), Lora Mihova (＠LoraVM) and Anne Morley (@annemorley6), graduates at O2 UK
In a world of equal opportunities, the gender balance still weighs unevenly when it comes to the number of females studying traditionally male dominated subjects, with females lagging far behind their male counterparts in the participation of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects.
The lack of girls studying STEM subjects at college and beyond is highly publicised and topical. ‘Talentees’ from the 2013 UK Talentum Graduate intake have been pioneering a programme designed to tackle the issue head on.
The statistics show a proportionate level of participation and performance in STEM subjects at high school level, but beyond this stage relatively few girls’ progress to specialise in these subjects. Conscious of the gap and under-representation, a workshop to introduce coding to girls aged 10 to 16 years was created, designed to be carried out before they make their future career choices. After many hours of preparation and organisation, the inaugural event took place in April on the “Girls in ICT Day“.
Spearheaded by Anne Morley from Operations, and Lora Mihova from the Business directorate, the workshops last 3 hours. Participants are given the opportunity to learn more about our organisational culture and gain an insight into what life is like in our head office, as well as meeting with female role models in tech positions (from our business) to learn about potential career paths.
The aim of the sessions is not to teach the girls everything that they need to know about programming, but to open their eyes to the possibilities. In just a short space of time they learn the basics of HTML and CSS, and create their own website. This is just the beginning.
Aided by volunteer mentors (most of whom are also Talentum graduates), they quickly see first hand the benefits of knowing the essential programming skills, and as a result many leave with a desire for more. The sessions are a chance for participants to move past any preconceptions they might have about technical skills being complex, and to discover that they can achieve a lot quite rapidly and easily as they start to transform their attitudes towards tech.
Want to get involved? We’ve got more workshops coming up soon so get in touch with us via Twitter @tntech2014
