Catalyzing Women’s Participation in the STEM field

India, with its high demographic dividend is blessed with an opportunity to employ its large working age population towards building a global superpower. 

Global markets and workspaces are increasingly demanding new-age skills, and solution-providing mindsets. In fact, STEM jobs are growing almost twice as fast as other fields. However, we still face a shortage of STEM workers, especially women. The female labour force participation rate (FLPR) in India has steadily declined from 38% in 2005 to 26% in 2018, compared to 48.5% globally (ILO, 2018).  

There is a high drop-out rate for girls, particularly during secondary education, due to socio-cultural factors (MHRD, 2018) and more boys are enrolled in private schools than girls, indicating greater household financial allocation to the education of boys. It shouldn’t come as a surprise then, that women occupy only 14% of the Science and Technology job market in India; half of the global average. 

IBM’s STEM for Girls India initiative 

IBM’s CSR initiative, STEM for Girls India (SFGI), aims at rationalizing this gendered STEM ecosystem by inspiring and enabling over 200,000 government schoolgirls to embrace STEM. The program integrates STEM education into the current government school curriculum, by offering practical hands-on activities to develop conceptual understanding and problem-solving mindsets rather than blindly teaching science concepts or coding languages. 

To make this happen, IBM has joined hands with the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India and has signed MOUs with 12 state governments to strengthen government school infrastructure and carry out capacity building exercises for teachers.  

Working Towards A STEM Powered Next Generation 

The STEM for Girls module - implemented via civil society partners like Quest Alliance and The American India Foundation - covers the entire STEM ecosystem.  

Technical Skills and Digital Fluency are covered by teaching students coding using the SCRATCH Jr application. Within a couple of months, students have shown immense progress and have won awards at the national level under the Code-a-thons organized by Hindustan Times. 

As part of the hands-on learning approach of SFGI, an innovation project was implemented for over 5,000 girls across Uttarakhand. Shortlisted students got an opportunity to design and launch their own functioning drones and PICO satellites at a LIVE event in Dehradun using appropriate software and technical theory. The success of this event led to the selection of 4 bright girls from SFGI to attend a final satellite launch event to be held at Chennai in 2022.  

Aditi Singh, a 9th grade student of Government Inter College, Nalapani, Dehradun was one of the girls selected. She always enjoyed STEM, and this initiative only boosted her interests. “This is a dream opportunity especially for government school students. I am excited to discover my future and build my identity in the field of space science now”, she said. This event helped girls like Aditi discover the world of possibilities open to them, while sparking an interest not commonly explored in the current government education system. 

Computational thinking and problem-solving mindsets are inculcated through Hackathons where students are encouraged to identify daily life problems and produce solutions using daily-life objects and user feedback. Students have created cleaning systems, sanitary pad incinerators, phone network boosters, pest control devices, and a range of solutions to the everyday problems around them. Several of their prototypes have been further selected at the national level by the MANAK inspire awards.  

Life Skills covering gender awareness and equality, leadership and agency building, social and interpersonal skills, are taught through self and gender modules and by encouraging girls to speak their minds and challenge the status quo. Teachers and STEM facilitators have observed major changes in confidence and self-awareness, especially among the female students. 

Career Planning 

Career Planning is executed through STEM for Girls’ Career guidance partner, Nirmaan organization. A toll-free helpline number was introduced for students to obtain information about career opportunities, scholarships, and their application processes, etc. 30 students were awarded scholarships of ₹20,000 through this program. Further, 13 girls from the STEM for Girls programme were selected for the Nirmaan’s Career Saathi Program, which supports students for a period of 6 years beyond school and college, till they get employment.

Baisli and Baisakhi, twins studying in the 9th Grade at Maharaja Girls High School, Gajapati, Odisha, suffer from Thalassemia, a fatal disease. They recently lost their father, and to make matters worse, much of their daily life is consumed by blood transfusions and treatments, destroying their hopes of a successful career. SFGI sessions acted as a ray of hope and a boost of confidence for the girls. “I want to be a nurse, and Baisakhi wants to be a doctor. Thanks to the Role Model Interaction conducted by SFGI, we have been given a new sense of hope which had died after we lost our father. We want to help everyone suffering from similar diseases” says Baisli. 

Beyond facilitating students, the program also empowers the enablers. Teacher and headmaster training sessions are carried out, and community/parents’ awareness through regular interactions with teachers are ensured. “Parents have begun taking initiative in their child’s education and discussing their problems with teachers more freely”, says Shahista Parveen, a STEM Facilitator, from Haryana. 

Speaking about the project, Manoj Balachandran, Head CSR, IBM India & South Asia said, "The SFGI program has been instrumental in breaking myths around STEM subjects and motivate young girls to opt for STEM careers in the future. While the team on the field takes regular sessions with students and teachers, there is a need to expose the students to advanced technology wherein they can participate, learn, and demonstrate their ability to prepare and launch projects which can be showcased at the national level and will thus hugely impact the confidence and curiosity of young students.“ 

“STEM careers will be jobs of the future, driving innovation, social wellbeing, inclusive growth and sustainable development. Women are half the population of India, and their participation is critical to averting a skills crisis. We believe a shift in mindsets is key for a societal change. MyyTake ESG is working with IBM on a holistic communications campaign to debunk gender stereotyping, celebrate female role models in STEM, amplifying voices of girls pursuing STEM and collaborating with all SFGI partners to make STEM for girls a national priority. We are inspiring the girls of today for the jobs of tomorrow, after all when She STEMs, We Win”, added Shagufta Khan, COO, MyyTake ESG. 

In the last 3 years, such success stories have been heart-warming. However, the challenges are massive, and mindsets are entrenched, to really bring substantial, systemic change more organizations from all arenas must come together to reach more girls across India. In the last 3 years, IBM along with the Department of Science and Technology has worked with civil society partners like Quest Alliance and The American India Foundation to create a scalable model, ready for adoption across geographies. 

The Programme has already brought 200,000 girls into the world of STEM, and is now opening its learnings to the new partners across India to make STEM for Girls a truly national campaign.  

To know how to participate or donate to the initiative, do get in touch: 

Jasbir Kaur, STEM for Girls Lead, IBM India, IBM Corporate Citizenship jasbkaur@in.ibm.com

Roxie Pabbi, Senior Manager, Partnerships, MyyTake Private Limited roxie.pabbi@myytake.com

