The WiSTEM initiative: Honoring the International Day of Women and Girls in Science
“On this International Day, I urge commitment to end bias, greater investments in science, technology, engineering and math education for all women and girls as well as opportunities for their careers and longer-term professional advancement so that all can benefit from their ground-breaking future contributions.”
On February 11, the United Nations will observe the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. This day was created in a resolution adopted by the General Assembly in 2015, stating that women continue to be excluded from participating fully in the economy even though they represent half of the world's population, and that women have a vital role to play and a right to participate in sustainable development policies, programs, and decision-making at all levels.
We’d like to honor the International Day of Women and Girls in Science by raising awareness about the projects and events of the Women in STEM initiative (WiSTEM). Launched in 2020 as part of the iGEM Ambassador program, the WiSTEM initiative aims to:
Inspire and Impact
We aim to inspire girls (and everyone who identifies as girls and women) to pursue careers in the STEM and SynBio fields via event organization, education and mentoring. We also aim to provide resources to underrepresented people, so they can get into STEM easier.
Increase Awareness
We aim to increase awareness of the underrepresentation of everyone who identifies as women in STEM and SynBio, shine the light on the problem. We also aim to increase awareness of the problems faced by other underrepresented groups such as LGBTQ+.
Present Data
We are collecting and analyzing the data related to underrepresentation of everyone who identifies as women in STEM and SynBio. This would allow us to approach the existing problem via numbers and statistics, which would say more to some people than people’s stories that already exist in STEM and SynBio.
At WiSTEM, we’ve been asking some tough questions: How can we have more women involved in science and have them as role models? What can we do to inspire the next generation of women in science? What are some of the shortcomings in how STEM is being taught and how can we improve?
After brainstorming and reaching out to the greater iGEM and synthetic biology communities, we launched several projects to promote women in STEM. We invite you to explore them all:
The Equality Pursuit Magazine
Issue #1: Gender Equality in SynBio
A new magazine that features written interviews with inspiring leaders and articles about gender diversity and empowerment. Our objective is to reach a wide audience through engaging and empowering content featuring inspirational stories and opportunities for promoting gender inclusivity in STEM around the world.
WiSTEM Panel Discussion Series
Round table discussions that explore the multi-faceted issues faced by women in STEM. This series intends to reach a larger audience - from high schoolers to those in the industry and to all who can inspire women in their community to go beyond their limitations and achieve their goals. Learn more about the panel discussion series: https://community.igem.org/projects/wistem-panel-discussions
Panel Discussion #1: Inspiring Girls into STEM
Panel Discussion #2: Motherhood in STEM
STEM Community Survey
The aim of the survey is to get to know better about gender-equality situations, culture and efforts made in the job context when it comes to women that develop in the STEM field. Learn more
Women In Entrepreneurship - Mini Campaigns
This project intends to trigger investigations that lead us to gather data about how women position themselves in the entrepreneurship field regarding science, biotechnology and synthetic biology startups/companies. Learn more
Our main vision is to be inclusive. We welcome everyone who is curious and can benefit from our work, and we aim to evolve the WiSTEM initiative into a bigger and more impactful initiative that represents all of the underrepresented groups in STEM and SynBio. We invite you to participate in any and all of the projects and events organized by WiSTEM.
If you are interested in joining WiSTEM or would like to share your ideas, please contact us at wistem [AT] igem [DOT] org.
Join the WiSTEM Community: Register for the WiSTEM newsletter to be notified about WiSTEM events and activities.
