‘Science and Technology as Feminine’: raising awareness about and reducing the gender gap in STEM careers

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the issue of the low participation of women in STEM careers and contributes to work on the gender gap in STEM in two ways. First, we propose a theoretical framework that integrates the factors influencing girls’ participation in STEM, proposed by UNESCO in 2017, and the concepts of cultural, identity and gender stereotypes. Second, we apply this framework to assess the contribution of the project Science and Technology as Feminine, promoted by the Spanish Association of Science and Technology Parks (APTE), to raising awareness about the low participation of girls in STEM and encouraging girls’ participation in scientific and technology careers in Spain. The APTE project has attracted media attention in Spain and the project results suggest that it should be possible to reduce the gender gap in the future career choices of young students, through the design of a set of activities addressed to the individual student, the students’ families and peers, schools and society at large, aimed at changing the habitus, which for many years has steered women away from STEM.

KEYWORDS:

• STEM
• gender gap
• education
• culture
• identity

Acknowledgments

The Association of Science and Tchnology Parks of Spain (APTE) gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology FECYT (Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities of the Government of Spain) for the 2019 edition of the project and financial support from Bayer Hispania S.L. for the 2018 edition of the illustrated guide What do I want to be when I grow up? Eliane Davila dos Santos would like to acknowledge the financial support from the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) -Finance Code 001. The authors are grateful to APTE and especially to Lole Franco González for collaborating in this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. At the time of writing, the 2020 project phase had been suspended due to Covid-19 pandemic.

2. Available at: https://issuu.com/apte_techno/docs/cienciaok.

3. Talent Woman seeks to promote women’s vocations in science and technology, to build a society in which girls and adolescents are not afraid to be engineers, scientists, researchers, computer programmers or other STEM professionals. The event, which in 2017 was held in Mexico, has been replicated across the world and features lectures, round tables, workshops and activities to give women a voice and showcase the employment of women in different STEM areas (Talent-Woman, 2019).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior) [Funding Code 001]his work was supported by the CAPES [Funding Code 001].

Notes on contributors

Eliane Davila Dos Santos

Eliane Davila Dos Santos is a PhD student at Prosup and has a Masters in Cultural Processes and Manifestations at Feevale University. She held the inter-university exchange Doctorate at the University of Malaga, Spain. She specialized in Service Management at Unisinos (2003); People Management at Unisinos (2001) and Business Administrator at Feevale (1997). She is vice president of the Business Administrator Association in her city and has worked for over twenty years in financial institutions. She has research interests in language, communication, processes and discourse analysis. Since 2016 she has been part of the research project Culture, Communication and Work: language practices and the construction of the subject and identity in a work situation, with the objective of approaching work activity through the interface between the notions of culture, communication and language.

Alberto Albahari is an Associate Professor at the University of Malaga (Spain) where he teaches Management and Innovation Management. He completed his Ph.D. at the same university and his bachelor’s degree in Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering at Politecnico di Milano, Italy. His main research interests deal with innovation policies, knowledge intensive environments and academia-industry relations.

Ernani Cesar de Freitas is a Post-doctorate in Applied Linguistics and Language Studies - PUC-SP/LAEL (2011); PhD in Languages, Applied Linguistics concentration area (PUCRS/2006); Masters in Applied Linguistics from the University of the Rio dos Sinos Valley (UNISINOS/2002) and a Graduate in Languages (Portuguese/ English and their Literatures), from the Centro Universitario La Salle (1999). De Freitas has experience in the field of languages, with emphasis on Portuguese Language and Applied Linguistics, on topics related to language and work, text and speech, reading and reader training as well as in the area of Communication and Culture: socio-organizational communication, culture and identity. De Freitas studied for an MBA in Business Management at UFRGS and an Executive MBA at FGV-RJ. De Freitas is a Professor of Higher Education at Feevale University on the Postgraduate Programme in Cultural Processes and Manifestations, and a permanent professor on the Postgraduate Programme in Languages at the University of Passo Fundo (RS). De Freitas is a Member of the following: the Applied Linguistics Association of Brazil (ALAB), Brazilian Association of Linguistics (ABRALIN); the Latin American Association of Discourse Studies (ALED); the Latin American Linguistics and Philology Association (ALFAL) and the Association Analyze des Discours de l’Amérique Latine (ADAL/Paris). De Freitas is coordinator (2018–2020) and effective participant of the WG ANPOLL- Language, Enunciation and Work.

Soledad Diaz Campos is Managing Director of the Association of Science and Technology Parks of Spain (APTE). She has a degree in journalism and an EMBA (Executive Masters in Business Administration) from ESIC Business & Marketing School and recently completed a higher programme in Digital Marketing. Her main responsibilities in APTE are as follows: Association services with a special focus on brand communication, cooperative projects between members, international projects, and cooperation with other networks of innovation at national and international level. She is the coordinator and project leader of the project ‘Science and Technology as Feminine’.

Alberto Albahari

Eliane Davila Dos Santos is a PhD student at Prosup and has a Masters in Cultural Processes and Manifestations at Feevale University. She held the inter-university exchange Doctorate at the University of Malaga, Spain. She specialized in Service Management at Unisinos (2003); People Management at Unisinos (2001) and Business Administrator at Feevale (1997). She is vice president of the Business Administrator Association in her city and has worked for over twenty years in financial institutions. She has research interests in language, communication, processes and discourse analysis. Since 2016 she has been part of the research project Culture, Communication and Work: language practices and the construction of the subject and identity in a work situation, with the objective of approaching work activity through the interface between the notions of culture, communication and language.

Alberto Albahari is an Associate Professor at the University of Malaga (Spain) where he teaches Management and Innovation Management. He completed his Ph.D. at the same university and his bachelor’s degree in Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering at Politecnico di Milano, Italy. His main research interests deal with innovation policies, knowledge intensive environments and academia-industry relations.

Ernani Cesar de Freitas is a Post-doctorate in Applied Linguistics and Language Studies - PUC-SP/LAEL (2011); PhD in Languages, Applied Linguistics concentration area (PUCRS/2006); Masters in Applied Linguistics from the University of the Rio dos Sinos Valley (UNISINOS/2002) and a Graduate in Languages (Portuguese/ English and their Literatures), from the Centro Universitario La Salle (1999). De Freitas has experience in the field of languages, with emphasis on Portuguese Language and Applied Linguistics, on topics related to language and work, text and speech, reading and reader training as well as in the area of Communication and Culture: socio-organizational communication, culture and identity. De Freitas studied for an MBA in Business Management at UFRGS and an Executive MBA at FGV-RJ. De Freitas is a Professor of Higher Education at Feevale University on the Postgraduate Programme in Cultural Processes and Manifestations, and a permanent professor on the Postgraduate Programme in Languages at the University of Passo Fundo (RS). De Freitas is a Member of the following: the Applied Linguistics Association of Brazil (ALAB), Brazilian Association of Linguistics (ABRALIN); the Latin American Association of Discourse Studies (ALED); the Latin American Linguistics and Philology Association (ALFAL) and the Association Analyze des Discours de l’Amérique Latine (ADAL/Paris). De Freitas is coordinator (2018–2020) and effective participant of the WG ANPOLL- Language, Enunciation and Work.

Soledad Diaz Campos is Managing Director of the Association of Science and Technology Parks of Spain (APTE). She has a degree in journalism and an EMBA (Executive Masters in Business Administration) from ESIC Business & Marketing School and recently completed a higher programme in Digital Marketing. Her main responsibilities in APTE are as follows: Association services with a special focus on brand communication, cooperative projects between members, international projects, and cooperation with other networks of innovation at national and international level. She is the coordinator and project leader of the project ‘Science and Technology as Feminine’.

Ernani Cesar De Freitas

Eliane Davila Dos Santos is a PhD student at Prosup and has a Masters in Cultural Processes and Manifestations at Feevale University. She held the inter-university exchange Doctorate at the University of Malaga, Spain. She specialized in Service Management at Unisinos (2003); People Management at Unisinos (2001) and Business Administrator at Feevale (1997). She is vice president of the Business Administrator Association in her city and has worked for over twenty years in financial institutions. She has research interests in language, communication, processes and discourse analysis. Since 2016 she has been part of the research project Culture, Communication and Work: language practices and the construction of the subject and identity in a work situation, with the objective of approaching work activity through the interface between the notions of culture, communication and language.

Alberto Albahari is an Associate Professor at the University of Malaga (Spain) where he teaches Management and Innovation Management. He completed his Ph.D. at the same university and his bachelor’s degree in Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering at Politecnico di Milano, Italy. His main research interests deal with innovation policies, knowledge intensive environments and academia-industry relations.

Ernani Cesar de Freitas is a Post-doctorate in Applied Linguistics and Language Studies - PUC-SP/LAEL (2011); PhD in Languages, Applied Linguistics concentration area (PUCRS/2006); Masters in Applied Linguistics from the University of the Rio dos Sinos Valley (UNISINOS/2002) and a Graduate in Languages (Portuguese/ English and their Literatures), from the Centro Universitario La Salle (1999). De Freitas has experience in the field of languages, with emphasis on Portuguese Language and Applied Linguistics, on topics related to language and work, text and speech, reading and reader training as well as in the area of Communication and Culture: socio-organizational communication, culture and identity. De Freitas studied for an MBA in Business Management at UFRGS and an Executive MBA at FGV-RJ. De Freitas is a Professor of Higher Education at Feevale University on the Postgraduate Programme in Cultural Processes and Manifestations, and a permanent professor on the Postgraduate Programme in Languages at the University of Passo Fundo (RS). De Freitas is a Member of the following: the Applied Linguistics Association of Brazil (ALAB), Brazilian Association of Linguistics (ABRALIN); the Latin American Association of Discourse Studies (ALED); the Latin American Linguistics and Philology Association (ALFAL) and the Association Analyze des Discours de l’Amérique Latine (ADAL/Paris). De Freitas is coordinator (2018–2020) and effective participant of the WG ANPOLL- Language, Enunciation and Work.

Soledad Diaz Campos is Managing Director of the Association of Science and Technology Parks of Spain (APTE). She has a degree in journalism and an EMBA (Executive Masters in Business Administration) from ESIC Business & Marketing School and recently completed a higher programme in Digital Marketing. Her main responsibilities in APTE are as follows: Association services with a special focus on brand communication, cooperative projects between members, international projects, and cooperation with other networks of innovation at national and international level. She is the coordinator and project leader of the project ‘Science and Technology as Feminine’.