The new Women in SET website within gradcracker.com has been warmly welcomed by a wide range of individuals and organisations with an interest in promoting careers in Science, Engineering and Technology to women.
Employers, students, and industry bodies have supported the development of the website and are now contributing articles and blogs to support the drive to make women more aware of the opportunities open to them within the sector.
Employers are queuing up to sponsor the website with National Grid being the first headline sponsor. These employers are very keen to address the serious gender imbalances in the workplace. Their financial contributions will enable Gradcracker to devote more resources towards further development of the initiative.
Female engineering and technology students have already welcomed the support Women in SET will provide. Gradcracker reported a not untypical example of a student in her first year of a Mechanical Engineering degree calling them to say she was the only female student on her course and how reassured she was to be able to read of how others like her had progressed to a successful career.
Gradcracker has also received support from organisations set up to promote careers in SET to women. Interconnect, UKRC and WISE are already working closely with them to promote and develop the website.
Emma Docherty, who is leading the initiative at Gradcracker, said. “The positive response to Women in SET is very encouraging and the launch of the website is certainly timely. I recently attended the Science for Careers Conference at the National STEM Centre, where organisations such as the Department for Education, the Science Council and various universities were discussing how to raise awareness of careers in science, engineering and technology among young people. It was clear that there was already a disparity between boys’ and girls’ attitudes to science subjects in early teenage years. It is therefore important that the small minority of females who go on to study STEM subjects at university are given every encouragement to pursue careers in the industry.”
