On Tuesday 19th February 2019, LOST, in collaboration with Dumfries House and the Royal Highland Educational Trust (RHET) will host a Women in Wellies event. This event is being supported by Education Scotland’s Enhancing Professional Learning in STEM Grants Programme through the Scottish Government STEM Education and Training Strategy. The aim of the event is to inspire girls and young women to pursue careers in rural and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields. Hosted at Dumfries House, female pupils from S3 at Auchinleck, Doon and Cumnock Academy have all been offered space to attend.
There are significant differences in the participation of women in STEM and rural subjects, with gender imbalances seen across education, training and work sectors.
Scottish Government statistics:
- 74% of the rural workforce is predominately male, with the same being true for the STEM sector.
- Only 16% of entrants into Engineering and Technology higher education courses were female.
- Only 3% of Construction Modern Apprenticeships were taken up by women.
- Women in STEM tend to earn less than male colleagues,
- Girls are underrepresented in STEM subjects with 28% of Higher Physics entries, 16% of Higher Computing entries and 10% of Computing Science
The Scottish Government’s STEM strategy, highlights that gender segregation and imbalance is a loss of economic potential for Scotland.
The benefits of working and spending time in the outdoors particularly in natural or greenspace is increasingly acknowledged as one of the key factors in fighting stress, inactivity and poor overall physical and mental health. Encouraging more women into rural careers supports the National Performance Framework for creating a healthier, greener, smarter, safer, stronger and greener Scotland.
The event itself will allow girls to hear from a wide variety of female professionals working in a range of jobs across both sectors. They will hear inspiring key note speeches from Linda McAulay-Griffiths, Head of Education, East Ayrshire Council, Dr Liz Barron-Majerik MBE, Scotland Director at LANTRA Scotland and Helen Lightbody, Head of Fleet Technical Services at Babcock International. The pupils will then get the chance to speak with women in small groups, to hear more about their job and the journey that they have taken to get to where they are. The girls will also have the opportunity to get hands on experience through a selection of exciting workshops at locations across Dumfries House Estate. And, for all those who wear their wellies, the day will end with a ‘welly wang’!
Also attending the event will be Young Reporters from Loudoun Academy, who will be recording the day, interviewing the speakers and delegates and writing an article all about the day.
We, at LOST, are very excited about this event and we look forward to welcoming the schools and professionals on the 19th February.
