Research shows that the way sciences are communicated to youth, in and out of school, is not yet gender inclusive. Young Europeans, both girls and boys, still have very little idea of the variety of careers that are possible in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and the skills that are relevant for those career pathways. In the coming years, with Europe’s knowledge economy developing and new technologies on the rise, skills in STEM will be needed for a broader range of careers than ever before.
The vision of Hypatia is a European society that communicates science to youth in a gender inclusive way in order to realise the full potential of girls and boys around Europe to follow STEM related careers.
Hypatia aimed to:
• Foster partnerships among schools, museums and science centres and industries and offer gender inclusive STEM education to young people
• Actively expose young people and especially girls to the variety of STEM related careers.
• Encourage young people to open up their horizons and expect everything from the field of STEM
To fulfil its mission Hypatia has prepared the following instruments:
• Guidelines for schools, museums and industries on gender inclusion
• Ready to use activities for schools, museums and industries that incorporate gender inclusion (Toolkit)
• Dialogue among policy makers, industry and school decision makers on the issue of gender inclusion ( Hypatia Hubs)
• Pan European campaign for and with young people focusing on gender inclusion and career paths in STEM ( ExpectEverything Campaign and Youth Editorial Boards )
• Provide renewed gender inclusion criteria