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Herman, Clem; Kendall-Nicholas, Jane and Sadler, Wendy
(2023).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0176062
Abstract
People Like Me is an intervention activity for 11- to 16-year-old girls developed by the Women into Science and Engineering (WISE) Campaign and Professor Averil Macdonald. It is part of a long tradition of efforts—in the United Kingdom and globally—to tackle gender inequality in the study of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects and to encourage more diversity in the scientific, engineering and technology sectors. The core concept of People Like Me is that raising awareness of the range of possible careers and jobs in STEM will encourage girls to continue studying science subjects in school and to aspire to STEM careers. This novel project focuses not on what scientists and engineers do, but on personality traits. People Like Me encourages girls to think about their natural strengths and characteristics, and recognize the same qualities in role models working in STEM who share similar characteristics. This paper explores the intervention’s success in changing attitudes about STEM careers.