Gender Statement
At STEM Untapped we have been working to increase the proportion of female, non-binary and underrepresented teens going on to study and work in STEM. We do this by hosting the STEM Untapped podcast, inviting role models to write blogs, hosting advisory panels of students and teachers, collaborating on events with organisations who hold similar values, and sharing a range of guest content on social media platforms.
We welcome boys and men of all ages to access our resources, attend our events, and listen to our podcasts. However, our volunteers (students, role models and ambassadors) identify as female, non-binary and transgender female and transgender male.
There is very little data about individuals who identify as transgender and non-binary working in STEM, and what we do have is typically anecdotal or about the discrimination and hostility they have faced.[1] Organisations like HESA (the Higher Education Statistics Agency https://www.hesa.ac.uk) and STEM Women (https://www.stemwomen.com/) include transgender and non-binary folk with women when they collect data.[2] As a result, people who identify as transgender and non-binary are already included in our work because they are in the data we refer to and rely on.
As an organisation we recognise that there are more visible male role models than female role models across the STEM sectors. In 2022 the UK STEM workforce was 74% male, already providing a larger proportion of male STEM role models. And according to a survey commissioned by Stemettes in 2023, 1 in 3 young people (aged 14-19) across the UK said that they had not been, or did not remember being, taught about a woman scientist in the past two years.[3]
This information shows that teenagers have access to a large number of male role models. STEM Untapped CIC exists to connect teens with underrepresented diverse, accessible role models in STEM. Our resources are available to everyone, but we focus on celebrating the expertise, experience and achievements of Gender Diverse role models.
[1] https://prideinstem.org/lgbtstemday/
[2] https://www.stemwomen.com/women-in-stem-statistics-progress-and-challenges; STEM Women Whitepaper, April 2023
[3] https://www.fenews.co.uk/skills/better-gender-representation-in-uk-stem-curriculum-urged-as-1-in-3-young-people-dont-remember-being-taught-about-a-woman-scientist/
