IDEA BEHIND STEM IS FEM

According to the latest data, women remain underrepresented in the engineering and technology sectors in Ukraine. The fact that there are less than 40% of women in the STEM fields has a number of reasons: gender stereotypes, lack of social support and behavior patterns, imperfection of the educational system, low self-esteem, and many other social and psychological factors.

The STEM IS FEM project believes that changing the situation can benefit everyone: girls will have more job offers, employers will have more choice of skilled employees, the country will have more people working in high-tech industries. Experts believe that support during the first steps towards a future career, up from entering a college or even earlier, can completely change the future of both a person and the nation. That is why STEM IS FEM wants to encourage as many girls as possible to choose a technology-related specialty for studying.

HOW TO TAKE PART IN STEM IS FEM?

You can find a link to the application form or announcements of the contest on the home page of the website. Carefully read all the announcements and prepare for the tasks in advance as you will be allowed to pass the contest only once. You will have limited time to answer the questions.

Once you are done, wait for an email. If the number of participants who successfully pass the first contest is bigger than the number of places in the group, there might be a second contest. We will announce the date in the email. Once you pass the contest successfully, you will get an invitation. The training module will be in Kyiv. Therefore, if you live outside Kyiv, your parents need to give you permission to attend the module.
STEM IS FEM project will cover all the costs for the accommodation and meals for the girls during the trip.
In Kyiv, the participants of the training module will have a chance to immerse into the chosen STEM field. You will visit the tech-related companies and see how they work. You will learn what are the career opportunities in the industry. You will meet women who have built a career and became experts in the technical world. And, of course, you will be able to take part in the competition to win the main prize that can help you get much closer to obtaining your dream job.

If you don't pass the contest, don't worry! You can take part in the competition for the next training module!

GOAL OF STEM IS FEM

The goal of the STEM IS FEM project is to motivate as many girls as possible to choose the STEM professions.

Many students don't feel self-confident enough to choose technical faculties because they are unsure of their abilities and have doubts whether they will be able to succeed on a tech-related job that is considered to a "male job". We want the girls who participate in the STEM IS FEM project to see with their own eyes that they have lots of opportunities to reach their dreams and build careers in the chosen industry. They are girls and yet it is not the reason to give up.
The second goal of our project is to build a female professional community. Every one of the STEM IS FEM participants will soon become a specialist in the chosen field. We want all the STEM-girls to get the support of her fellows, to have friends who understand her and who also follow the same path.