STEM Talks inaugurated at the 2nd Local Group Meeting

Last Thursday, May 16th, the 2nd Meeting of the Local Group of the WeSTEMEU Project was held at the Ramon Castelltort school library with the participation of all the involved stakeholders from the territory. The day, initiated by Patricia Illa, councilor of the Igualada city, became an opportunity for cooperative work and constructive debate among the different participants. The STEM Talks were also inaugurated, with a lecture by Marina Prats, from Young IT Girls, who offered an open debate on the relationship between science, technology, and gender. Marina provided a colloquium where she explained her personal experience in situations where she has encountered conflicts due to her gender and also offered her knowledge on how to promote female participation in these fields.

The various members of the session were very participatory throughout the session; in fact, the stakeholders involved in the WeSTEMEU project, led by the Igualada City Council in its commitment to equality and female empowerment in STEM fields, carried out an exercise where they defined the possible weaknesses, strengths, threats, and opportunities (a SWOT analysis) of the situation of the city of Igualada with respect to the prism of STEM. The most common negative point was the lack of female references and examples (or none with visibility) in the territory, while the vast majority of participants agreed that the STEM sector is a powerful and attractive option, which has a notable diversity of educational possibilities in the city of Igualada. The contributions and conclusions obtained during the day will serve to guide the next actions of the WeSTEMEU project. The objective is to continue promoting science, technology, engineering, and mathematics among women and girls.

The meeting was also used to follow up on the project at a European level. Margot Matesanz, a member of TIC Anoia, presented the results of the study visit to Bucharest. During this visit, scientific research centers and spaces for the promotion and dynamization of technology were explored. The European group of the WeSTEMEU project will meet in Patras (Greece) for the third study visit. At this meeting, various good practices will be presented to promote STEM among the female population in the Greek territory, to later be able to exchange experiences and knowledge for the rest of the European agents participating in the WeSTEMEU project.