Career Resources
You can’t be what you can’t see
Research shows that women are under-represented in leadership roles, yet are better leaders. They are also under-represented in many industries and those industries recognize their value and want them. To bring about change and enlighten the girls, the schools need awareness, information, resources, services and tools.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4th IR)
“We stand on the brink of a technological revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, work, and relate to one another. In its scale, scope, and complexity, the transformation will be unlike anything humankind has experienced before. We do not yet know just how it will unfold, but one thing is clear: the response to it must be integrated and comprehensive, involving all stakeholders of the global polity, from the public and private sectors to academia and civil society.” (Klaus Schwab)
The World Economic Forum’s Centre for the 4th Industrial Revolution Network is pioneering new approaches in the following key technology portfolios.
| 1. Artifical Intelligence (AI) and machine learning | 2. Autonomous and Urban | 3. Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology |
| 4. Data Policy | 5. Digital Trade | 6. Drones and Tomorrow's Airspace; |
| 7. 4th Industrial Revolution for the Earth | 8. Internet of Things, Robotics and Smart Cities | 9. Precision Medicine |
The 3rd IR used electronics and Information Technology (IT) to automate production. IT-based innovation didn’t prolong the 3rd IR, it introduced the distinct 4th IR. The use of data, IT and innovation changed our world in every career and every way:
| • Business | • Professions | • Innovation – products, solutions, |
| • Data – Understand target markets, their needs, likes and dislikes, personalities, families, lifestyle... | • Research | • Understanding of Science – Climate Change, Nanotechnology, Cosmos, Medicine... |
| • The need to close the gender gap | • Diversity and equality | • Education |
In the 4th IR, the IT pipeline (future employees) is most important and for today it is vital.
- • Today, all professions/careers can not do without an IT base. As time passes, the pipeline is drying up. This is no longer a national problem. It is a global challenge. Companies are working hard to find the people the need and they don’t care where they get the from.
- • Professions have changed. Previous manual labour careers were not STEM careers. Today they are.
- • Previous male-dominated careers, now want females and STEM educated employees.
- • As technology produces new and better ways to do things, employees today are not prepared.
- • Those in the pipeline need to keep up with the changes.
- • Those whose jobs no longer exist, need re-training and new skill sets. They often have no idea what to do. Many may not have finished secondary school. But there are IT solutions.
- • The Canadian digital economy has grown by 37% since 2010 and it is not slowing down. It is bigger than mining, forestry, oil and gas, whose industries are now dependent on IT.
- • Canada can not afford to lose its IT people to other countries. There are solutions.
IT today has a dripping pipeline. The 4th IR is laying off many employees, especially in Industries that have evolved into STEM careers, e.g. Mining, Construction. IT is exploding in all sectors, but potential employees are not.
- • Too many are not STEM-prepared before going on to post-secondary education.
- • Educators are unaware of IT, the requirements of careers or the 4th IR future.
- • There is not enough done to re-train/re-skill an employee who has lost his/her job, especially if their education is minimal
- • The IT profession is the most needy of all professions. They are also the ones other professions need.
- • IBM and SAP have created educational training and at no cost to their potential employees. IBM has a 12 week paid course for those who have lost their jobs.
- • Code.org is a free online course in coding, which also provides teaching courses.
Math is vital!
You will find that throughout this website Mathematics is stressed. For some reason, today it is assumed that due to technology, the knowledge and understanding of Mathematics is no longer a necessity, i.e. Consumer Math – use of a calculator – is all that's needed. Actually, the truth is, that Mathematics is more important today than at any previous time in history. And unfortunately, the lack of math skills is exacerbated by today's gap between skills and needs. If teachers are telling students that Math is hard and clerks are using a calculator to multiply by 10, then we need to worry.
Read this article and start saving for a Math tutor, but test their knowledge first. Elementary teachers’ weak math skills spark mandatory crash courses (Toronto Star, May 13, 2016, Louise Brown). It starts out, "Amid falling student scores, faculties of education are tackling a “huge problem” among Ontario elementary teachers who don't “get” basic math. Elementary teachers’ weak math skills — some can’t even recall Grade 6 fractions — have sent Ontario teachers’ colleges scrambling to launch mandatory crash courses, with some making student teachers pass a math test to graduate." All students are suffering, but then add in the gender card, and our girls are in even more trouble.
A recent article Gender-Science Stereotypes Persist Across the World (May 19, 2015 - Northwestern University) discusses a new Northwestern University study "Women’s Representation in Science Predicts National Gender-Science Stereotypes: Evidence From 66 Nations" which includes data from nearly 350,000 people in 66 nations. The Netherlands had the strongest stereotypes associating science with men more than women, but these stereotypes are prevalent across the world -- even in nations such as Argentina and Bulgaria where women are roughly half of science majors in colleges and universities and employed researchers. The article will surprise you as will the study, the largest ever of its kind.
Women represent the majority of university graduates in Canada, however they remain under-represented and in many cases discouraged from taking courses in science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) and computer sciences fields. Impressions, limitations, ideas… start in the early grades. Here are some links to recent studies:
- Study (May 2015) What to Do About Canada’s Declining Math Scores? by Anna Stokke, University of Winnipeg - Department of Mathematics and Statistics, May 27, 2015. The declining performance of Canadian students on international math assessments should worry Canadians and their provincial governments. Strong mathematics knowledge is required for success in the workforce, and early achievement in math is one of the best predictors of later academic success and future career options.
- Study (January 2015) On The Origins of Gender Human Capital Gaps: Short and Long Term Consequences of Teachers' Stereotypical Biases by Victor Lavy and Edith Sand for the National Bureau of Economic Research blames the effects of Primary school teachers' gender biases on boys’ and girls’ academic achievements during middle and high school and on the choice of advanced level courses in math and sciences during high school. Lavy and Sands state, ”… teachers’ biased behavior at early stage of schooling have long run implications for occupational choices and earnings at adulthood, because enrollment in advanced courses in math and science in high school is a prerequisite for post-secondary schooling in engineering, computer science and so on. ” The New York Times goes further when they add parents' and toy-makers' gender biases in their article "How Elementary School Teachers’ Biases Can Discourage Girls From Math and Science" (Feb 6, 2015)
- Study (April 2014) Teachers’ perceptions of students' mathematics proficiency may exacerbate early gender gaps in achievement by Robinson-CimpianJP1, LubienskiST2, GanleyCM3, Copur-GencturkY4 Study1: On average girls are only perceived to be as mathematically competent as similarly achieving boys when the girls are also seen as working harder, behaving better, and being more eager to learn. Study 2: Underrating girls' mathematics proficiency accounts for a substantial portion of the development of the mathematics achievement gap between similarly performing and behaving boys and girls in the early grades.
- Study (August 2011) Women in STEM: A Gender Gap to Innovation conducted by the U.S. Department of Commerce Economics and Statistics Administration discusses many possible factors contributing to the discrepancy of women and men in STEM jobs, including: a lack of female role models, gender stereotyping, and less family-friendly flexibility in the STEM fields.
- Study (2011) The Role of Parents and Teachers in the Development of Gender-Related Math Attitudes by by Sian L. Beilock,1&pnbsp;Elizabeth A. Gunderson, Gerardo Ramirez, and Susan C. Levine Math attitudes begin to form in preschool and early elementary school, with children endorsing gender stereotypes about math, girls displaying lower math self-concepts than boys, and girls being negatively affected by implicit and explicit activation of math-gender stereotypes. Children’s math attitudes form as a result of environmental influences, especially those that occur in interactions with parents and teachers. Understanding the behaviors and contexts that form the links between adults’ and children’s gendered math attitudes is critical for understanding how to minimize negative influences and enhance positive influences on children’s math attitudes.
- Study (January 2010) Female teachers’ math anxiety affects girls’ math achievement by Sian L. Beilock,1 Elizabeth A. Gunderson, Gerardo Ramirez, and Susan C. Levine In early elementary school, where the teachers are almost all female, teachers’ math anxiety carries consequences for girls’ math achievement by influencing girls’ beliefs about who is good at math.
Today the world is moving at supersonic speed due to technology and North America is falling behind. We are just in the beginning stages and we are already falling behind. We need to prepare our students, and girls in particular, for this and the future world. This includes precise language skills – particularly in the languages of mathematics, the sciences and coding. Advanced mathematics should be the norm, not an elective that needs to be started in grade 8 or 9. Without advanced math, all the under-represented industries are closed to our girls, as are the leadership roles. We must open all doors for our students, not close most of them because of the misconception that consumer math (what can be done on a smartphone or computer) is enough.
Our situation is dire. Malkin Dare, Former President of the Society for Quality Education, makes some alarming observations in her Huffington Post Blog, "Ontario's Math Scores Are Down, So Creating STEM Jobs Doesn't Add Up" posted on May 22, 2014. Ontario isn't the only province that's in trouble. It's our whole country. To study a STEM program, advanced math must be started in grade 8 or 9, but if teachers don’t understand math, how can they teach it? – Elementary teachers’ weak math skills spark mandatory crash courses (thestar.com May 13, 2016)
Recent STEM and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) News
Ontario math training needs a full revamp (Anna Stokke, April 6, 2016 - The Globe and Mail)
Report: Despite Equity Initiatives, STEM Gaps Persist (Joshua Bolkan, June 29, 2015 Campus Technology)
Math Quest tailored to high school girls (June 16, 2015 - The Whig Standard)
Science, sexism and the Nobel laureate (June 16, 2015 - The Globe and Mail)
Sexism in science often stems from ‘guy blindness,’ not malice (June 12, 2015 - The Globe and Mail)
Gender Inequality in Scientific Professions – Global Survey Results (June 12, 2015 - Business Wire Canada)
Study: Misperception Discourages Girls From Studying Some STEM Fields (June 11, 2015 - Lab Manager Magazine)
Sally Ride, first American woman in space, saluted in Google Doodle (May 26, 2015 - CBC.ca)
STEM connects young students with math, science (May 09, 2015 - Calgary Herald)
NYC students to be offered free STEM classes in program (May 07, 2015 - DailyNews724.com)
Grade nine girls hit post-secondary campuses across Calgary to discover wonders of STEM (May 06, 2015 - SAIT Polytechnic)
University of Waterloo joins UN program promoting women in STEM fields (May 05, 2015 - 24News.ca)
Why there are still far too few women in STEM (April 21, 2015 - Macleans.ca)
Girls just wanna have fun — with science (April 13, 2015 - Hamilton Spectator)
Twin 'Girls in Science' events will encourage the next generation of young minds (April 08, 2015 - McMaster Daily News)
Women benefit from working in woman-dominated teams, study shows (April 07, 2015 - Phys Org)
SciGirls explores citizen science in season three (March 26, 2015 - Kid Screen)
The 5 Biases Pushing Women Out of STEM (March 24, 2015, Joan Williams, Harvard Business Review)
7 ways to inspire a love of STEM in tweens and teens (March 10, 2015 - Star News)
Girls lack self-confidence in maths and science problems, study finds (OECD) (March 06, 2015 - The Guardian UK)
Seven strategies to advance women in science (March 06, 2015 - Phys Org)
Fewer girls in math? Blame biased teachers (February 23, 2015 - DailyNews724.com)
Think again about gender gap in science (February 17, 2015, Phys.org)
Women needed in STEM jobs for the sake of innovation (Paul Bray, January 5, 2015 - The Telegraph UK)
How do men and women respond to gender bias in STEM? (Psychology of Women Quarterly, January 8, 2015)
Tomorrow’s Problem Solvers: Growing a Strong STEM Workforce (STEM Education News, December 15, 2014)
STEM Education: A Diverse Commitment (STEM Education News, December 15, 2014)
To help you
We will be creating mini-websites in professions that are under-represented by women. The pilot mini-website, Information Technology, is up and running and is updated on a regular basis. You must check out the interactive, multimedia PDF e-magazine, "Future Leaders in IT", which is meant to sit on your local school websites. New mini-websites will be launched as new e-magazines are started, although you will find a couple of pages on the Engineering mini-website. We would love to start the Physics mini-website and its e-magazine – Physics today is absolutely incredible. Did you know that Canada (Waterloo, ON) has the world renown Perimeter Institute, a leading centre for scientific research, training and educational outreach in foundational theoretical physics? Its Outreach Program for students and teachers is amazing. Here's a link to the recently (March 6, 2015) held "Future Women in Science" Conference. Luckily it was video-taped, so sit back and enjoy. It takes 2 1/2 hours, but it's worth every minute.
Relationships
The business sector wants to provide the awareness. The educators say they need the awareness. The educators and the business sector have limited existing communication, yet have a joint responsibility and opportunity to support female leadership. This is to be the beginning of a wonderful relationship.
CAREER RESOURCES
* has basic mini-website
** has basic mini-website started
Donors