Powering girls towards careers in STEM
We know there is more we can do to provide opportunities for women in STEM, importantly when girls are young. Fewer than 40% of STEM enrolments at university are women*.
Our Girls in Power program began in 2022! Our Girls in Power program is for years 9 and 10 female students, to encourage and inspire young girls to take more STEM classes in year 11 and 12, and see what a career in STEM might look like.
"I have always been interested in it since I was younger, but I have never been confident enough to put myself out there into STEM," said a Girls in Power attendee.
Students at Meadowbank Power Station, with Meadowbank Dam ‘on spill’
Our most recent Girls in Power event in the south of state welcomed 35 students. Our first event was held in the North of the state in July. Throughout the two-day program students went behind the scenes with a tour of Meadowbank Power Station, part of our Derwent run-of-river hydropower scheme!
Students participated in ‘speed careering,’ where they were given the opportunity to quiz employees from Hydro Tasmania and our friends at TasNetworks. Lastly, the group also visited our Cambridge Workshop where they got to participate in hands-on engineering and technology challenges.
The workshops saw students participate in challenges that address real-world scenarios, solving questions like: How do you transfer water from a water source to a power station? A giant, tactile 3D model of a Tasmanian landscape was seen to help the students as they develop a proposal to transfer the water while considering the environment, geology and cost.
Hydro Tasmania’s Executive General Manager of People, Culture and Engagement Ruth Groom said the program was a fantastic opportunity to introduce young women to the possibility of a career in STEM. “Women are still underrepresented in STEM industries including the renewable energy sector,” said Ruth.
“We want to encourage more young women to take up STEM subjects in years 11 and 12 and consider careers in our sector when they graduate.”
Girls make up only one quarter of year 12 enrolments in information technology, physics and engineering subjects. The number of women enrolling in university STEM courses and working in STEM jobs has increased but only 37% of university STEM enrolments are from women.
Students venturing through Meadowbank Power Station
“Our goal is for students to leave the workshop feeling excited about the possibilities that a career in STEM can offer them.”
“We need young women to feel they belong and can achieve great things in our sector. One way we can do this is to introduce them to STEM subjects from a young age and encourage them to follow these pathways at university.”
Want to learn more about our education programs? Generation Hydro runs STEM activities for primary and secondary school students across the State. Find out how schools can get involved here: https://www.hydro.com.au/education
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[Header image: Girls in Power students with Zali Steiner, Graduate Mechanical Engineer, and Xavier Wishart, Fitter Machinist at our Cambridge Workshop.]
