Girls on Tech—Education and Equality Under the Microscope

Quick quiz: who originally invented Wi-Fi? The first computer program? The e-book? No peeking now… 

If you assumed a man, you’re wrong: the world has Hedy Lamarr, Ada Lovelace and Ángela Ruiz Robles, respectively, to thank for these modern-day mainstays.   

Don’t feel bad if you flunked; you’re in good company, as this video from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) shows. Women in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) are both less visible and less numerous than their male counterparts, accounting for just 30% of STEM professionals worldwide. 

The statistics are similarly dismal in higher education, and certain sub-disciplines fare even worse. A mere 15% of those studying health and welfare studies are female, falling to 8% in engineering, manufacturing and construction; 5% in natural science, math and statistics; and 3% in information and communications technology (ICT).  

Until relatively recently, the tendency for girls to choose humanities over STEM—and the corresponding professional gender gap—wasn’t a huge concern. Now, though, we’re undergoing a new industrial revolution, and this time it’s digital. New professions are emerging all the time, traditional ones are evolving and some could even disappear altogether. It’s impossible to predict how the labor market will look in 20 years’ time. 

The implications of this digital revolution are huge. Companies are already struggling to find sufficient digital talent to meet demand. The European Commission predicts 756,000 unfilled jobs in the ICT sector alone by 2020. There are some juicy opportunities out there for the taking, but if women aren’t trained in STEM disciplines they’re going to be left behind.

Barcelona is one of Europe’s leading innovation, startup and science and tech hubs, so here the situation is particularly worrying. Anna Moreu, Consulting Director at Oracle Spain, warns, “In Barcelona, the demand for digital talent in the last year has increased by 40%,” however, “available digital profiles have only increased by 7.6%.” 

Mar Gaya, Vice President of Association 50a50 and Founder of Igualando, also points to a positive correlation between companies with diverse management teams and increased profits. This is now motivating some to attract female talent, but they’re struggling to find it, particularly in STEM. And it’s only going to get worse unless the number of female graduates increases. Anna Moreu explains it was precisely this realization that led to the creation of Oracle4Girls.  

Bringing diverse values and experiences to the table is also essential as we steam full speed ahead into the uncharted territory of robotics. 50a50 cautions, “If AI is only designed by men, the “robots” they create will have a significant bias in terms of vision and emotional intelligence; they won’t include the abilities most typical to women.” Simply put, we risk the machines we increasingly rely on being skewed to the needs of 50% of society.   

Growing awareness of this ticking time bomb has spurred governments, NGOs, educators and companies to launch initiatives to get girls interested in STEM and address:  

Gender Stereotypes

The media holds such sway over how we see the world that it’s no wonder girls struggle to imagine themselves in STEM when they don’t see themselves represented there. The 2015 Gender Bias Without Borders study revealed just 11.6% of onscreen characters working in STEM were women. And girls are further alienated by the archetypal techie character: a nerdy loner with personal hygiene issues hacking the NSA from his garage.    

Seemingly innocent playthings—like houses and dolls for girls vs. Lego and chemistry sets for boys—also send strong messages. Anna Moreu says, “At seven years old girls begin to abandon, to decide that they don’t want to study technical subjects. Why? Because they’re influenced by toys from a very young age.” For this reason, many initiatives—including Oracle4Girls—start early, engaging primary and secondary school kids through STEM workshops in programing, ICT, engineering, robotics and more.   

The perception that certain subjects are “for boys” also causes girls to undervalue their abilities from an early age. This occurs even when they achieve equal or better grades and, says Anna, when, “There’s no study that’s demonstrated boys are more skilled than girls, either in tech subjects or math.” 

Lack of Female Role Models

Kids also need real people to look up to, says UPC Vice-Chancellor for Social Responsibility and Equality, Gemma Fargas Ribas. “When you talk about role models, you talk about Marie Curie, as one example. And that’s great, but it’s not someone from the present day.” Providing relatable female examples and role models is, therefore, key to many initiatives, including the UPC’s Una enginyera a cada escola and Aquí STEAM (the A stands for arts like architecture). Gemma says, “If these don’t exist, it’s hard for this kind of education to be on girls’ radar.” Fortunately, the UPC has its own inspiring role model in the form of Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering Professor Núria Salán. 

Teaching Methodologies

There are also fewer women between the pages of ESO textbooks: just 7.6% of examples are female. Also, teaching methods and communication don’t always favor girls. That’s why, as well as fostering teenagers’ interest in STEM, the pan-European Hypatia project—after the Alexandrian mathematician and astronomer—worked towards more inclusive communication on the part of schools, research centers and museums. The Spanish centers, including CosmoCaixa, were coordinated by Fundació Bancària “la Caixa.” Project coordinator Sonia Garcinuño explains girls do better when they collaborate rather than compete and are less engaged by math problems that involve working out which car will win the race. Between 2016 and 2018, Hypatia reached 14,000 teenagers, 450 teachers 160 scientific institutions across the country.  

Aquí STEAM also targets teachers, providing training and classroom resources to 30 public schools to run activities and address gender issues with kids aged 9 to 14. Gemma Fargas Ribas reports demand from schools has quickly outstripped all expectations. 

Student Motivations

Students of both sexes are often hazy about what careers like engineering involve, and stereotypes about “male” jobs can be unhelpful. Girls tend to be more motivated when they see the social and human value, and how things like tech can contribute to a better world. CEL Working Partner & EADA Project & Business Manager Laura Robert believes the reason for greater numbers of women in medicine is a no-brainer, “Because there’s a clear way of contributing value to society.” To this end, CEL Working’s forumSTEM brought entrepreneurs working on conditions like Alzheimer’s or mental illness together with students to share the realities of their work, their motivations, passions, successes and failures.

Young IT Girls organizes practical tech workshops, talks and mentoring in and around Barcelona. As recent engineering graduates, they are also well placed to share experiences and influence kids. Civil Engineer and Treasurer Sara González explains, “We believe the biggest thing in our favor is that we could be the older sisters of the boys and girls.”

She’s also in no doubt that greater visibility and recognition of STEM women and their achievements is essential. Just 17 women have been awarded the Nobel Prize for physics, chemistry or medicine since Marie Curie in 1903, compared to 572 men. Sara says, “The image [children] have of who invented or discovered something, who’s been awarded the Nobel Prize… even if there was a woman behind, because at times there have been, the image is still of a man.”

Family Values

The biggest influence on kids, however, is their own families. Their support—or lack of it—is decisive when it comes to choosing a career. Recognizing this, Oracle4Girls includes parents in their workshops. While fathers in particular need to be careful about putting girls off by classifying things as “for boys,” Anna Moreu affirms there’s no shortage of parents who recognize the importance of STEM and share their daughters’ overwhelming satisfaction with the experience.

With so much money and effort being thrown at the problem, it’s to be hoped it will bear fruit soon. However, real, systemic change requires action and commitment at all levels of society. Experts are optimistic, though, pointing to growing awareness, shifts in societal attitudes and the raw demand for female STEM talent opening up new opportunities. As Laura Robert puts it, “Those who are well trained in tech subjects, and are keen, have a great future ahead of them.”

There are many more initiatives, events and important dates than we could cover here, so here are just a few:

International Day of Women and Girls in Science, February 11, and International Girls in ITC Day, April 25, 2024, around both of which numerous activities are organized. 

Young Mobile Festival. Held alongside the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona every February, YoMo boasts over 100 workshops, presentations, STEM educators and businesses and is free for Spanish schools to attend.  

STEAMcat. With the Generalitat concerned about the talent supply-and-demand gap in Barcelona, this broad-ranging program aims to promote STEM disciplines, improve pre-university teaching and reach industry and society.  

STEAM BCN. The Ajuntament is also doing its bit through Barcelona Ciutat Digital through organizing workshops and activities.

Dones en Xarxa, which runs initiatives like Noies, Les TIC són Nostres.

Mujeres con ciencia, working to raise the profile of women in science. 

Awards to reward and promote women in STEM, such as Premis Dona TIC and the Premio Mujer y Tecnología-Fundación Orange.  

Kate Williams is a freelance writer, editor, translator and Director of The Writer Stuff. She left her native England for Barcelona in 2003 and never looked, or went, back. When she isn’t writing or discovering all the cool stuff going on in the city, she enjoys hiking in the Catalan countryside, kayaking on the Costa Brava, and volunteers at a local animal sanctuary. You can read more by Kate here.

Published September 10, 2019, updated March 2, 2024.