Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

A mentoring programme to spark girls’ interest in STEM

In Israel, as in most countries, the number of girls who choose to study STEM subjects in high school is still too low, and the number of women occupying leadership positions in academia and tech companies even more so. Neta Blum, a mechanical engineer who founded a programme to inspire female high-school students to choose a path in STEM, argues that mentoring is key to empower the next generation of female scientists and engineers.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Percentage of female startup founders in Europe and North America.

References

  1. Society of Women Engineers. SWE research update: women in engineering by the numbers (Nov. 2019). Society of Women Engineers https://alltogether.swe.org/2019/11/swe-research-update-women-in-engineering-by-the-numbers-nov-2019/ (2019).

  2. Sheltzer, J. M. & Smith, J. C. Elite male faculty in the life sciences employ fewer women. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 111, 10107–10112 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Lewis, M. & Lupyan, G. Gender stereotypes are reflected in the distributional structure of 25 languages. Nat. Hum. Behav. 4, 1021–1028 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Marinucci, L., Mazzuca, C. & Gangemi, A. Exposing implicit biases and stereotypes in human and artificial intelligence: state of the art and challenges with a focus on gender. AI & Soc https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-022-01474-3 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Wu, D. J., Thiem, K. C. & Dasgupta, N. Female peer mentors early in college have lasting positive impacts on female engineering students that persist beyond graduation. Nat. Commun. 13, 6837 (2022).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Stefanini Group. What are Gartner’s top 10 strategic technology trends for 2023? Stefanini Group https://stefanini.com/en/insights/news/gartner-top-10-strategic-technology-trends-for-2023 (2022).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Neta Blum.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Blum, N. A mentoring programme to spark girls’ interest in STEM. Nat Rev Mater 8, 219–220 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-023-00542-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-023-00542-4

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing