
FemSTEM: Empowering (little) Female STEMers
By: Irene of KIS
SDGs: Quality education, Gender equality, Reduced inequalities
In my sophomore year here at Korea International School, I participated in the school’s advanced math program. But when I walked into one of our Saturday practice sessions, I was shocked to find that I was one of two girls in my grade in the room — the other nine were boys.
Are girls simply worse at math than boys? No, I didn’t think so. There were so many talented math students I know who are females. After asking around, I learned that they just weren’t interested in pursuing an advanced math course and voluntarily opted out from the qualification test for the program.
Then why are girls simply not interested in math, and moreover, STEM? I tracked this issue down to one prominent root cause: girls are not encouraged to pursue STEM like boys are, especially in their early years growing up. I never saw myself pursuing STEM either until I was given the freedom to explore them in depth in high school and find them truly intriguing.
I wasn’t “bad” at STEM, I just simply wasn’t exposed to it enough.
With this in mind, I teamed up with Ashley, the other girl in the advanced math program, and Ms. Chang to create FemSTEM. In order to tackle the lack of female representation in STEM, we needed to spike their interest when they were young and still open to exploring STEM. And so, STEM for Girls was born. We created an after-school STEM workshop for a small group of ten 4th and 5th graders. I was surprised to see not just how intrigued they were by our activities, but also by their creativity and novel approaches to tackling the tasks we gave them. That was 2022. Now, FemSTEM has grown to 11 members, STEM For Girls runs every trimester here at KIS, and we started a new branch— STEM For YOUth, at two local youth centers to reach around a hundred elementary school children.
Of course, starting all of this wasn’t easy. Many (MAAAANY) meetings with advisors, youth center managers, and FemSTEM members, a lot of planning, some tears, and teamwork were required, but I’m glad I have started what I did and I am proud of how far we have come since the beginning of my junior year.
I hope to see a change in the coming years at KIS, and I look forward to revisiting the school to gauge the impact Ashley and I have made to the girls there.
Are girls simply worse at math than boys? No, I didn’t think so. There were so many talented math students I know who are females. After asking around, I learned that they just weren’t interested in pursuing an advanced math course and voluntarily opted out from the qualification test for the program.
Then why are girls simply not interested in math, and moreover, STEM? I tracked this issue down to one prominent root cause: girls are not encouraged to pursue STEM like boys are, especially in their early years growing up. I never saw myself pursuing STEM either until I was given the freedom to explore them in depth in high school and find them truly intriguing.
I wasn’t “bad” at STEM, I just simply wasn’t exposed to it enough.
With this in mind, I teamed up with Ashley, the other girl in the advanced math program, and Ms. Chang to create FemSTEM. In order to tackle the lack of female representation in STEM, we needed to spike their interest when they were young and still open to exploring STEM. And so, STEM for Girls was born. We created an after-school STEM workshop for a small group of ten 4th and 5th graders. I was surprised to see not just how intrigued they were by our activities, but also by their creativity and novel approaches to tackling the tasks we gave them. That was 2022. Now, FemSTEM has grown to 11 members, STEM For Girls runs every trimester here at KIS, and we started a new branch— STEM For YOUth, at two local youth centers to reach around a hundred elementary school children.
Of course, starting all of this wasn’t easy. Many (MAAAANY) meetings with advisors, youth center managers, and FemSTEM members, a lot of planning, some tears, and teamwork were required, but I’m glad I have started what I did and I am proud of how far we have come since the beginning of my junior year.
I hope to see a change in the coming years at KIS, and I look forward to revisiting the school to gauge the impact Ashley and I have made to the girls there.