Free Online Forum: Wonderful Women of Wastewater
September 23rd., 2014
2pm – 4pm Eastern Time (3pm – 5pm Atlantic Time)
Twelve Wonderful Women of WasteWater (Twitter #WWofWW) will gather online to talk directly to girls about what makes them passionate about their careers, how they got to their current positions, and what the future holds for a career in the water professions.
ETC President, Kelly Galloway, P.Eng. is delighted to have been asked to participate in this event being organized by Wastewater Education 501(c)3, and held in conjunction with EPA Septic Smart Week, September 22-25, 2014.
Why?
According to the National Science Foundation, 66 percent of 4th grade girls say they like science and math, but only 18 percent of all US college engineering majors are female.
The United States has fallen significantly behind the rest of the world when it comes to the STEM subjects of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Just as startling is that girls are even less involved in STEM majors and careers than their male counterparts, as women hold less than 25% of the country’s STEM jobs.
Watch this Verizon commercial (below) that may help to explain why.
What?
This is a virtual meeting where the fabulous WWofWW will gather around a virtual ‘water cooler’ to rally young women and inspire them to stay in school. In the US, 75% of all college students are women and students of colour, yet they only represent about 45% of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) degrees earned each year (source Million Women Mentors).
Working together, let’s encourage more girls to get involved with STEM and choose careers that build a brighter future. The jobs are there – all girls need is the motivation and support to go grab them!
aka – Queen of the Throne
ETC’s resident “Queen of the Throne” will be there with her “Septic Scepter” promoting the wastewater field as an interesting, exciting, and challenging area for women to work in. Engineers can use their talents and energy to design innovative solutions and develop products to solve big environmental problems.
Registration is limited to the first 100 participants, but the event will be recorded for future viewing.
Girls can register now at the Water Is Water Adobe Distance Learning Site.
In 2011 the International Water Association published “Mind The Gap: Meeting the Water and Sanitation Millennium Development Goals.” Its specific focus addressed the looming deficiency in skilled professionals in the face of a rapidly aging workforce. The report called out the issue of gender inequality in the sub-sectors of drinking water, sanitation and hygiene promotion (WASH):
iii) Gender inequalities – WASH is a male dominated sector; the case studies demonstrate clear gendered occupational boundaries, with men and women tending to do different jobs in the sector; with men working more on water supply and women more on hygiene promotion. In general, there is a low level of women graduates from universities especially from technically orientated courses. The low representation of women in technical and managerial positions can be linked to a failure to promote careers in the sector to young women and a lack of policy incentives to recruit more women.
Photo credits:
Great job on the photography for my toilet photo shoot Martin Caird!