Ahead of International Womens Day on 8 March 2015, I attended a conference entitled 'Empowering women and girls through Education' in Brussels earlier this week.
It was a very informative conference with Representatives from National Parliaments of the EU member states and MEPs having the opportunity to discuss challenges, opportunities and potential steps ahead at the European level. The debates focussed specifically on eliminating gender disparity in education and training, on the challenges for equal access to continuous and quality education, and on the steps ahead towards the empowerment of women and children through education in the European Union.
As Seanad Education Spokesperson, I welcomed the opportunity to speak about the Irish Education system and on current Government policy which focuses on addressing a more gender neutral / equal uptake of secondary school subjects by students, especially some of whom may lack confidence. Our education is designed for all learners, both female and male, from the four corners of Ireland.
One area of concern raised by the countries was the numbers of female students involved in STEM subjects. In Ireland While numbers have improved in recent years, this area of concern remains where girls are underrepresented in the “STEM” subjects - Science Technology Engineering and maths. In 2014, at Leaving Certificate level Just 19% of Technology candidates in 2014 were female the figure is even lower for Design and Communication Graphics in which 12 % of candidates were female. In construction the figure was down to 7% and in engineering only 5% of candidates was female.
We need to enable more girls as well as boys to be confident in choosing the STEM subjects in their post primary education. Both the education and industry sector need to work together to remove the obstacles which have so far served to limit the involvement of young women in the STEM area.
Information is power and it influences our young people , especially the girls , their parents and teachers, to consider the STEM industries based her in Ireland as a practical career option.
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