As the global community celebrates its eighth International Day of Women and Girls in Science (Friday 11th February 2022) we are pleased to talk to ROCOL apprentice, Kiera Wareing, about what it’s like to be a female in STEM.
Kiera joined the ROCOL team in September 2020 as an apprentice in our technical department. Currently the only female student on her degree course in Chemistry at Bradford University, it wasn’t until she went to college to study for A-Levels in Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics that Kiera felt supported in her decision to pursue a career in STEM.
“The biggest influence on my career path so far was a female teacher at college who pushed and encouraged me to pursue a career in STEM. She gave me the confidence to get to where I am today. Too often in engineering environments, women feel like their opinions don’t matter as much as their male counterparts when that shouldn’t be the case. STEM environments are still stereotyped as male-dominated, but things are improving.
“As a woman in STEM I hold my head up high and I want to be able to support more women to have the confidence in themselves to present their data and be sure of their abilities. The team at ROCOL has been very supportive of my development so far and I’ve already had some amazing opportunities.”
To achieve full and equal access to and participation in science for women and girls, the United Nations General Assembly declared 11 February as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science in 2015.
ROCOL are committed to training and developing the next generation of STEM engineers.
