Girls don’t lack interest in STEM – they lack opportunities

“The problem isn’t that girls aren’t interested in technology. The problem is that we don’t create environments where they feel welcome, seen and encouraged,” says Ulrika Sultan, guest researcher at the Department of Science Communication and Learning at Chalmers University of Technology, and the author of the report commissioned by Näringslivets skolforum.

The report shows that many girls express a genuine interest in technology and science at an early age. Despite this, the proportion of women decreases steadily throughout the educational pipeline – from primary school to working life.

“For a long time, we have assumed that girls need to be ‘inspired’ to take an interest in technology. But when we place the responsibility on the individual, we make the structures that limit and hinder their opportunities invisible,” she says.
The report points out that many initiatives aimed at increasing interest in STEM are short-lived and fragmented, resulting in limited impact. Successful initiatives, on the other hand, are characterised by continuity and:

• begin early in the school years,
• occur continuously over time,
• are systematically followed up, and
• build bridges between school, working life, and higher education.

Furthermore, the report emphasises the importance of broadening the definition of STEM.
“Science and technology are not just about traditional engineering professions – they also include fields such as healthcare innovation, sustainability, and digitalisation.”

One of the report’s most concrete proposals is to strengthen STEM content in teacher education – particularly for the early years. Today, many teacher-training students receive very limited instruction in the subject of technology, which risks creating a school environment where pupils’ curiosity is not nurtured.
“Teachers are the key. If they don’t get the right tools, we lose generations of children who could have found their path to STEM,” says Sultan.

The main message of the report is clear: efforts to increase women’s participation in STEM need to shift focus – from sparking interest to creating opportunities.
“What we must do is build environments where girls can translate their interest into action,” says Ulrika Sultan. “Only then can we achieve real change.”