{"id":159,"date":"2016-12-20T09:09:54","date_gmt":"2016-12-20T09:09:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/bigconversation\/?p=159"},"modified":"2021-06-07T09:01:15","modified_gmt":"2021-06-07T09:01:15","slug":"will-the-gender-balance-on-engineering-and-physical-sciences-programmes-be-the-same-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/bigconversation\/2016\/12\/20\/will-the-gender-balance-on-engineering-and-physical-sciences-programmes-be-the-same-in-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Will the gender balance on Engineering and Physical Sciences programmes be the same in 2026?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>What\u2019s the issue ?<\/strong><\/em> Well we can argue, as to exactly which sample\/technical specialism we consider \u2013 but it is hard to argue that there isn\u2019t an issue.<\/p>\n<p>Some ball park figures to set the scene.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Engineering, averages ~16% female, Women in STEM \u2013 facts and statistics (Reporting period 2012-2015, IET&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/communities.theiet.org\/files\/8042\">https:\/\/communities.theiet.org\/files\/8042<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>Physics, average nationally, ~21% female (Diversity lead, Institute of Physics).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This is not for want of trying! We have collectively in Birmingham and across the UK invested effort and financial resource in encouraging female students to consider degrees that include Physical Sciences and Engineering.<\/p>\n<p>There are national equality awards, Athena SWAN and discipline specific Institute of Physics Juno which we work successfully towards (and achieve) in the University.<a href=\"https:\/\/epsequalitydiversity.wordpress.com\/\">https:\/\/epsequalitydiversity.wordpress.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>But the question remains, how different will the gender balance be in 2026? We know the pool, that is the school year that these future scientists and engineers will come from, and the curriculum they are being taught: what can we do and what should we do to alert them to the opportunities that are open to them?<\/p>\n<p>An interesting approach is language related, \u2018Not for people like me\u2019, an initiative by Women in Science and Engineering, and commissioned by National Rail.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wisecampaign.org.uk\/resources\/2014\/11\/not-for-people-like-me\">https:\/\/www.wisecampaign.org.uk\/resources\/2014\/11\/not-for-people-like-me <\/a>&#8211; we will be digesting the implications of this, and becoming trained in this approach in the New Year.[Let me know if you\u2019d like to be a reserve for a place on the workshop]<\/p>\n<p>Where would I like us to be? Empirical observation suggests that 30% changes the class dynamic, and interestingly this is an aspirational number for boardrooms <a href=\"https:\/\/30percentclub.org\/\">https:\/\/30percentclub.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>How can we get there? What would persuade your child\/friend\u2019s chid to consider such a career path?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What\u2019s the issue ? Well we can argue, as to exactly which sample\/technical specialism we consider \u2013 but it is hard to argue that there isn\u2019t an issue. Some ball park figures to set the scene. Engineering, averages ~16% female, Women in STEM \u2013 facts and statistics (Reporting period 2012-2015, IET&nbsp;https:\/\/communities.theiet.org\/files\/8042) Physics, average nationally, ~21% &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/bigconversation\/2016\/12\/20\/will-the-gender-balance-on-engineering-and-physical-sciences-programmes-be-the-same-in-2026\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Will the gender balance on Engineering and Physical Sciences programmes be the same in 2026?&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/bigconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/bigconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/bigconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/bigconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/bigconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/bigconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2062,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/bigconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159\/revisions\/2062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/bigconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/bigconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.bham.ac.uk\/bigconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}