The first day of  the STEM Women Congress (SWC), which has more than 400 registered for the two days, has presented the conclusions of  the Annual Report 2020, a study that analyzes the STEM initiatives carried out during 2020.   The first day of the SWC focused on the initiatives developed  to promote STEM at different stages, from school to entrepreneurship, including higher education. The first day was held in digital format and was broadcast by the Department of Digital Policies and Public Administration.

For the third consecutive year, the STEM Women Congress  makes  female talent visible and promotes, as well as being a springboard  to inspire women to enter the world of science. Under the premise  of promoting female empowerment  in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), as well as  the presence  of women in management positions,  the first day of the SWC has hosted prominent personalities from the STEM field and internationally renowned companies who have carried out different presentations and workshops focused on the importance of initiatives that promote STEM, entrepreneurship and the impact of gender stereotypes at the earliest ages.

General conclusions of the Annual Report: the effectiveness of the initiatives

Carlota Sánchez, 3D Printing Spain Marketing & Communications Manager at HP, presented the  general conclusions of the Annual Report,  the study prepared  by the STEM Women Congress team with the aim of knowing the totality of the impacts generated by STEM initiatives.

“The Annual Report 2020 is the result of a joint action promoted and carried out between several initiatives. This report allows us to have an X-ray of the activities and initiatives  carried out in Spain to increase the number of women in STEM studies and professional careers”, explains Carlota Sánchez in the presentation of the study.

The Annual Report has been prepared based on a questionnaire distributed to all the STEM Women initiatives that have been identified and have wanted to participate voluntarily. The objective of the report is  to know the impacts generated  by the initiatives, the degree to which the initiatives impact on the Spanish population,  the age groups as well as the territories where they impact. The source  of funding is also analysed as  well as the type of activity that is being carried out.

A main conclusion has been drawn from the study  , which is that not only is there a need for a technological platform that allows the standardization of measurement data among all initiatives, but also a new measurement system is required to analyze the quality of the impact and, most importantly, its effectiveness. 84% of initiatives actively monitor them, which allows us to understand the importance of measurement to measure whether initiatives are successful. “We shouldn’t just focus on the data, but on the depth of these impacts,” says Sánchez.

The Annual Report states  that 49% of the initiatives have private funding sources and that in only 35% of cases the initiative is aimed exclusively at the female sector, while 65% is aimed at both sexes. The report also details that more than 50% of the initiatives that have been part of the study were created from 2018 onwards, highlighting that the promotion of equality policies in these sectors through the SDGs may have led to this growth. In this regard, Carlota Sánchez stressed the importance of having institutional and governmental support for the development of equality policies and initiatives.

Another interesting fact is that 70% of the initiatives surveyed are interested in recruiting volunteers to promote the role of women in the STEM sector. The study confirms that, in Spain, a total of 21 initiatives during 2020 have achieved an impact of 74,858 children between 1 and 16 years old, which represents 1% of the total population.

“It is striking that there are very few initiatives for the ages of 1 to 6. It is very important to understand that many gender stereotypes are already forged during this childhood stage. If we want more women in STEM, we must start with this foundation,” reflects Carlota Sánchez.

“On the other hand, initiatives focused on women who are studying and working in STEM careers or vocational training have managed to impact 8.7% of STEM  students, but only 2.85% of women who are already in the STEM professional environment. Not only do we have to get them to study STEM, but we have to dedicate them to it, so that we don’t lose them along the way.” Sánchez also stressed that “only 9% of all the STEM initiatives included in this study dedicate part of their efforts to promoting entrepreneurship among STEM women”.

Several studies have shown that there are no significant differences between men and women in terms of aptitudes to develop STEM careers, however, the gender gap is still present. For this reason, according to the Annual Report, 81% of the participating initiatives work to break gender stereotypes. In addition, the initiatives seek not only to close this gap, but 62% of the projects  aim to raise awareness among families in order to put an end to this idea of gender

Finally, when comparing the initiatives by region, it can be seen that most of them come from Catalonia, the Community of Madrid and the Valencian Community. This, however, has an explanation: “it is a skewed map because the SWC study begins in Catalonia. We are sure that there are many more initiatives and we encourage that, if you know of initiatives from other autonomous communities, you send them to us so that we can see them grow in all these communities”.

Carlota Sánchez concluded the conclusions of the Annual Report by also encouraging companies and public institutions to start STEM initiatives earlier.

Workshops and debates that focus on imposed gender stereotypes

Throughout the day, different workshops, debates and round tables were held,  mainly focused on gender stereotypes, the impact they have on all generations, and the future of the younger generations.

Cecilia Cuadra, Digital Marketing Manager at Ricoh Spain and Portugal, and coordinator of the initiatives focused on the professional career stage, has been in charge of presenting and initiating these workshops. “We play different roles in life. I learned that you can be a mother, a sister, a friend, a professional… and in STEM it doesn’t make a difference. What role do we play here today?” asked Cuadra.

“The goal of the SWC is  to bring all these people, with all these roles, together to respond to the needs that we have. This is where the 3 workshops come from, to take action and provide answers,” explained Cecilia Cuadra.

Thus, it gave way to the debate “Looking for the initiative that will change my life”, moderated by Susanna Cabos, Global Project Quality Director at Schneider Electric, followed  by the workshop  “Start changing the world and measure its impact”, moderated by Cecilia Cuadra, and “Together we go further and faster”, moderated by Mar Porras, Sales Enablement Manager at Ricoh.

There were also debates on “The look of the future”, at the beginning of the day, which was attended by students from different schools, and “STEM Entrepreneurship”, with Clara Lapiedra. At the same time, various presentations and talks have been held.