Llanelli’s Assembly Member, Lee Waters, hosted an event in Tumble Hall on Monday to inspire local schoolgirls to consider taking up STEM – science, technology, engineering and maths – subjects in school.
The event saw eight year old girls from Gwendraeth Valley schools taking part in fun science activities, and celebrating the advances women have made over centuries in scientific and mathematical fields.
Lee Waters AM said:
“This has become an annual event inspired initially by our area’s association with Amelia Earhart’s incredible feat in being the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. With a tech skill shortage, and an ever-widening gender divide, now is a critical time to engage pupils – particularly girls – and inspire them to take up STEM subjects and careers.”
During the event, the girls were able to participate in interactive activities that gave them a fun experience of science and tech. The workshops were provided by local companies Mad Science Wales and Technocamp, who devised an engaging programme of STEM activities around the theme of ‘flight’.
The AM said:
“In STEM subjects, girls do better than boys at primary school, and they’re level pegging at secondary school; however, only 16% of jobs in these STEM fields are taken by women. If we want to recover the economy of this area, we need to inspire girls and women to think that they too can take a role.”
Mr. Waters also paid tribute to the achievements of women in science such as Ruby Payne-Scott who was the first person to figure out the temperature of the sun and Rosalind Franklin who discovered the structure of DNA. He added:
“We don’t celebrate women like these enough, and we’ve got to put that right, so every year, while I’m an Assembly Member, I’m going to commemorate these amazing, pioneering women – women like Amelia Earhart.
“I want our local girls to know that they too can grow up to become scientists, engineers, mathematicians, inventors and fighter pilots. And not to let anything – or anyone – hold them back.”
The event was sponsored by local engineering firm Amcanu.
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