Girls today, pioneers in Stem tomorrow.

The Straits Times, Singapore

TODAY, they are young girls taking apart printers and doodling designs for drones. 
Tomorrow, they could be making the next great scientific breakthrough.

Such is the vision of Girls2Pioneers, a campaign to get more young girls in Singapore interested in the traditionally male­dominated fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem).

Founded last year by the Singapore Committee for UN Women, the programme holds day camps and field trips for girls aged 10 to 15, exposing them to fields that range from engineering, cybersecurity to astrobiology.

Girls2Pioneers organiser MrinaliniVenkatachalam said that gender stereotypes and a lack of female role models can discourage girls from taking the courses necessary to enter these fields. 

According to a 2010 survey by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star), the proportion of men outweighed women by 30 percent in Singapore's engineering and technology sectors. 

There were about 19,000 male Stem researchers and scientists to about 6,700 female ones, and only 27 percent of IT professionals were women. 

Ms Venkatachalam, 30, said: "We're keen to empower the next generation workforce in Stem. 
"So much innovation and change is coming out of these four areas and it's appalling that half the population might not have the access to becoming a key part of those solutions."

The programme organised about 30 day camps for 3,000 girls last year. It aims to reach out to another 3,000 this year.
During the camps, the girls try their hand at activities such as building aqueducts from recycled materials, learning to write computer code, or even designing alien life forms.

They also get to go on field trips to Stem facilities. 
On a trip to a cancer research lab, they experimented with cell samples. On another to the Hewlett­Packard factory, they discovered how printer parts were manufactured.

CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls' School student Sarah Ching, 14, who was on the latter trip, recalled: "I got to take apart a printer with my group mates and look at the inner workings. It was very educational and I thoroughly enjoyed myself."

Although the programme involves girls from all walks of life, Ms Venkatachalam said it is especially crucial for them to reach out to girls from low­income or at­risk backgrounds. The group contacts them through family service centres and shelters.

She said: "These girls are doubly disadvantaged, because their parents can't afford to send them for programmes or give them the same level of privilege as other students. 

"Giving them a hand up rather than a handout is very important to us."
The campaign, which is sponsored this year by Mastercard, has also mustered a roster of 23 prominent women working in Stem to act as programme ambassadors and mentors to the girls.

Girls2Pioneers also works with parents, teachers and employers to challenge existing stereotypes about women's roles in Stem.
Ms Venkatachalam said that many parents she met worry that their daughters may not have a full family life if they enter demanding fields like Stem. "But what if by doing this, you're restricting the next Marie Curie?"

Undaunted by stereotypes is 11­year­old Rachel Foo, who attended a Girls2Pioneers day camp.
The Da Qiao Primary student said: "I like technology because with technology, you can make things that you could only imagine (before) be real.

"I would want to work in Stem. I can prove to other people that women are as capable as men in science, technology, engineering and mathematics."

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For further information, visit their website: http://unwomensg.wix.com/girls2pioneers

Video: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3Q9UbcObpE