While primary school-aged girls are almost equally likely as their male peers to want to work in a science related field, as girls grow up, they become less likely to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and ICT. According to the 2022 data of Eurostat, girls and women continue to be under-represented, being only 19.1% of all ICT students in the EU. Due to a lack of encouragement, support and role models, girls might feel less interested and confident in entering certain professional fields that are usually male dominated. Since gender stereotypes are persistent, teachers and educators can play an important role in changing this perspective by giving girls guidance and access to experiences that can change the current scenario.
SparkDigiGirls – Greece, Lithuania, Portugal, Slovenia
Abstract
Empower Girls Creativity Through Use of Digital Technologies (SparkDigiGirls) project aims to encourage girls to explore digital technologies such as AR (Augmented Reality), VR (Virtual Reality), AI (Artificial Intelligence), IoT (Internet of things) and to contribute to the STEM industry by providing new and creative ideas. SparkDigiGirls is a two‑year project funded by the Erasmus+ strategic partnership in the youth field and was implemented in Greece, Lithuania, Portugal and Slovenia.
The project aims at tackling stereotypes and societal beliefs on gender and technology by strengthening girls’ digital literacy skills and creativity to provide them with new opportunities to pursue IT and STEM studies in the future. To meet this goal the project developed an online training tailored to the girls’ needs, launched a campaign of success stories of women in technology to increase the attractiveness of the digital sector and invited girls and youth workers to join the project activities.
The project overall managed to involve 200 girls aged between 15 and 18, who wish to develop their creativity by using digital technologies (including girls living in remote areas, migrant girls, girls from families at risk) and 30 youth workers from formal and non-formal education institutions (schools, youth NGOs, libraries, training centres, etc.). One of the main outputs so far include a report that presents the key findings from round table discussions and case studies focusing on technologies that may impact 13 to 18 years old girls’ creativity. The project also produced a set of online training materials focusing on innovative learning and a curriculum for improving girls’ creativity using innovative applications and digital tools. The curriculum is expected to attract more girls to attend the online course and will serve as a support document to navigate independently online training materials. Finally, the digital Female Role Model Campaign that was launched produced 12 inspirational videos and collected testimonials from different women professionals about IT sector.
Further reading
[5] European Commission’s Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture (2022), Education and Training Monitor 2022, https://op.europa.eu/webpub/eac/education-and-training-monitor-2022/downloads/comparative-report/Education-and-Training-Monitor-Comparative-Report.pdf.
[1] Grinevičiūtė, G. et al. (2023), Report of a twofold analysis of ways how innovative technologies may develop creativity of girls, http://www.digigirls.eu/downloads/nuotraukos/sparkdigigirls-io1-report2.pdf.
[3] Guell Paule, L. (2023), SparkDigiGirls, https://digital-skills-jobs.europa.eu/en/inspiration/good-practices/sparkdigigirls-lithuania.
[2] SparkDigiGirls (2024), SparkDigiGirls, http://www.digigirls.eu/.
[4] SparkDigiGirls (2023), Empower Girls’ Creativity Through Use of Digital Technologies, http://www.digigirls.eu/downloads/untitled%20folder%201/io5_e-guidebook_eng_compressed.pdf.
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