At Bitrock, we believe in the importance of bridging the gender gap in STEM and we think that empowerment, networking and training activities are fundamental to achieve this goal.
For these reasons we are arranging bootcamp sessions and partnering with SheTech, a non profit association founded with the aim of filling the gender gap in tech, entrepreneurship and digital sector.
On February 11, we celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. We take this opportunity to give an overview of today’s situation in the STEM sector analyzing some of the main reasons behind the gender gap and introducing some inspirational women that changed the technology world.
Today’s scenario
Italy is at 63rd place out of 146. This is what emerges from the World Economic Forum Gender Gap Report 2022, the ratio that measures the achievement of the objective of parity between men and women on different levels: economic involvement and opportunity, education level, health and political empowerment.
Despite this low-ranking, Italy is improving in some aspects. Indeed, in 2022 our country recorded almost 40% of female graduates in STEM: one of the highest percentages among European countries.
The STEM gap is an indication of the persistent belief that women aren’t capable and therefore don’t belong to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Even though this idea may not always be explicitly stated, it’s an invisible force that pervades everywhere, in the classroom and even in the workplace. There are many related problems and often the contribution of women is not recognized. As a result, there are only a few role models for young girls to look up to.
It goes without saying that it’s necessary to provide institutional support and measures to encourage female participation in the STEM sectors from childhood because interventions at the undergraduate or postgraduate time are not sufficient.
A few pioneering women as inspirational Role Models
In order to support the recognition of women’s contribution to the STEM field as well as to inspire all young girls interested in this world, we want to remember some of the women that made a change in the technology history becoming inspirational role models.
In 1843 Augusta Ada King, better known as Ada Lovelace, developed the first program for a computer – the first example of software in history. Her work signed the foundations of modern computer science.
In the 60’s Radia Perlman became an Internet pioneer, developing the algorithm behind the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP), an innovation that made today’s Internet possible.
Margaret Hamilton was the Software Engineering Division of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory’ s director which developed the onboard software for the Apollo program.
Just to mention a few women that have revolutionized the STEM sector, allowing us to achieve some important goals in tech and computer science.
What we have achieved so far
At Bitrock, we’ve worked hard to play our part. We’re proud to say that the first results are already visible: the number of female resumes has risen by about 30% in general and even by 15% for more technical roles. These numbers are encouraging, but we know that there is still a long way to go.
In addition, we want to nurture our partnerships – like the one with SheTech – to give our contribution in bridging the gender gap in the digital and tech sector.
Follow our journey and join our next networking events!
