Girls are unfortunately still heavily underrepresented in MINT jobs. This underrepresentation does not only start in the work life but is already manifest in the choice of corresponding schools and later academic programmes. There are many reasons for this. Often there are gender stereotypes that are still deeply rooted in our society, besides bias and missing role models. Urgent measures are required here to counteract this, bearing in mind that these measures need to be taken as early as possible to generate interest in the MINT segment. Once this interest has been successfully generated, the goal will be to preserve it for the long term. Moreover, those girls and women who choose this path should get the best possible support to be able to fully develop their potential.
The aim of the Girls Only Project is to establish a full-coverage programme of MINT sponsorship measures with a focus on IT and computational thinking for girls and young women of all age groups, which is specifically aligned on the needs of the corresponding groups. The offer begins in nursery school age, continues in the schools (primary and secondary schools), and later also at the universities. The focus within the intended sponsorship rests on IT but the model is being developed so that it can be expanded to cover further MINT areas. The offer for female students and young researchers at the university is being developed for all MINT areas and also being laid out for montane sciences in cooperation with Montanuniversität Leoben.
Project consortium:
- Johannes Kepler University Linz (project coordinator)
- Montanuniversitaet Leoben, Industrial Liaison Department (Außeninstitut)
Mentoring programme
A mentoring programme for girls and young women in the MINT segment is being developed and adapted based on existing programmes to meet the needs in the best possible way. For this purpose, the results of an anonymous needs survey that was taken among female pupils and female students in the lead-up to the project are also taken into account.
Mentoring is understood to mean an activity by an experienced person (mentor) who passes on their expertise and experience to an inexperienced person (mentee).
The needs survey for female pupils and students was taken in the spring of 2022 and the results were presented in the course of the network event with podium discussion on 24/05/2022.
Based on the results of the needs survey, the mentoring programme was kicked off in October 2022.
The mentoring programme and the process were presented in the kick-off meeting on 14 October 2022. Besides the "Self-assertion" workshop, there was initial contact between mentors and mentees, who agreed together on tasks, goals, and expectations.
A workshop on the subject of "Career start & career paths" was held on 3 November 2022, in the course of which the mentees and additional female students received answers from Vice President Human Capital Bernhard Reisner and Senior Board Manager Valerie Weixlbaumer-Pekari (both MIBA AG) to questions about job applications and starting a career and guidance on what matters most in the industry.
There is the additional possibility for some of the students to receive support from mentors. It was necessary to register in order to participate in the mentoring programme. The mentees were selected after submission of the completed registration form, a motivation letter of about one page and a personal interview.
Duration of the mentoring programme: WS 2022-2023
Contact: DI Renate Reumüller
