International Day of Women and Girls in Science: a message from Teach First partners and supporters
On this day we proudly support Teach First’s STEMinism campaign, calling for change to address the damaging gender gap across STEM careers.
Estimates suggest that a shortage of STEM skills costs businesses £1.5 billion a year. Yet with so few girls, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, studying STEM subjects beyond GCSEs we’re robbing ourselves of potential talent.
The education charity has discovered an absence of women on the national science GCSE curriculum, while their poll found that only half of British adults could name a female scientist. This means pioneering scientists such as Marie Curie and Lise Meitner are absent from public consciousness.
We must urgently increase the number of female role models in our classrooms, so we can show more young girls that a bright STEM career isn’t simply reserved for boys. Only then can we unleash the potential across the country.
Yours,
Laura Hinton, Chief People Officer, PwC
Dimple Agarwal, Deputy CEO and Managing Partner, People and Purpose, Deloitte
Arabel Bailey, Innovation lead at Accenture UK and Girls in STEM sponsor
Angela Noon, Chief Financial Officer, Siemens Plc
Duncan Clark, Head of Region UK, Ørsted
Nikki Davis, Global Chief of Staff, Oliver Wyman
June Felix, Chief Executive Officer, IG Group
Rain Newton-Smith , CBI Chief Economist
Clare Matterson CBE, Director of Engagement, The Natural History Museum
Claire Walker and Hannah Essex , Co-Executive Directors, British Chambers of Commerce (BCC)
Huw Evans, Director General, Association of British Insurers (ABI)
Andrew Haines, Chief Executive, Network Rail
Dame Judith Hackitt DBE FREng, Chair, Make UK
Katherine Mathieson, Chief Executive, British Science Association
Clare Lebecq, Chief Executive, London Market Group (LMG)
Michele Giordano , Senior Director, International Expansion, Girls who Code
Charly Young , CEO and Co-Founder, The Girls' Network
Paul Drechsler CBE, Chairman, Bibby Line Group Limited
Jasmine Whitbread, Chief Executive, London First
Dame Julia Cleverdon DCVO CBE, Vice President, Business in the Community
Ruth Harris, Managing Partner, Ashurst