Women in STEM festival at Murray Edwards College, Cambridge
Last October I had the delightful opportunity to attend the Women in STEM festival at Murray Edwards College, Cambridge. This was a 2-day gathering of female stem enthusiasts from ages 16-90. Here, they shared their thoughts about how there are now more females active and known in STEM (an improvement!) and what can be done to empower girls and young women pursuing careers in STEM. At the festival there were many talks, with interesting, thoughtful themes such as ‘The ‘girls hate hard maths’ myth’ – given by Professor Holly Krieger, Shahina Ahmad, Dr Vanessa Ogden and Dr Ems Lord; these talks covered all areas of STEM. If you are interested, these talks can be found on the Murray Edwards YouTube channel.
I’d like to thank Murray Edwards College for being so welcoming; they invited students from my sixth-form college to come to this event. Every staff member I spoke to had a smile on their face and we were given a nice lunch (including dessert!) as well as drinks throughout the day – how kind! Between talks, I’d talk to women and learn about their careers and how they got there. The people I spoke to also gave me encouragement and advice about my education and career; giving me the confidence to pursue a career in STEM, knowing that when I do I won’t be only surrounded by intimidating males.
What This Event Taught Me
My memories of this festival are fond ones, it comforts me that there is a great welcoming community of women in STEM out there wanting me to succeed, not to mention the inspiration these women are and how they have worked hard to be the best they can and have contributed a lot to science and STEM. I think it is also important that the festival made me think about why women are the minority in STEM and what can be done to uplift women to continue, explore and pursue their STEM passions. These talks and this festival have inspired me to think about my own journey in STEM and the challenges I’ve faced. It was amazing to see older women who had overcome even bigger challenges than mine and who helped pave the way for others like me and I hope I can be like them in the future.
This article was written by Sarah M, a Stemette Society member.
