Girls at school and in STEM programs

Last March 8 was International Women’s Day, the day set aside to celebrate the achievements of women while calling for greater equality around the world. Women have made remarkable progress towards increasing their participation in higher education, but they are still under-represented in all science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines worldwide. #Breakthebias was the theme this year, and Dassault Systèmes is more than ever engaged in doing it within and outside its company.

Let Girls Go to School is a simple statement. Around the world, 129 million girls are out of school, including 32 million of primary school age, 30 million of lower-secondary school age, and 67 million of upper-secondary school age. Investing in girls’ education transforms communities, countries and the entire world. Girls who receive an education are less likely to marry young and more likely to lead healthy, productive lives. They earn higher incomes, participate in the decisions that most affect them, and build better futures for themselves and their families.

Girls’ education strengthens economies and reduces inequality. It contributes to more stable, resilient societies that give all individuals – including boys and men – the opportunity to fulfil their potential.

Women have made tremendous strides in the workplace within the past century, including impressive gains in historically male-dominated fields such as law, business and medicine. However, within the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), women’s progress has not been as significantly recognized, although their success in the workplace is on the rise. With many industries providing extraordinary opportunities for women, one area of focus for IWD is then in a STEM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics) career. Today, one of the goals of IWD is to help pave the way for women in STEM and, in particular, technology. According to the IWD website, its mission is “To celebrate digital advancement and champion the women forging innovation through technology.”

So, at Dassault Systèmes, we continue to help girls and women through various programs like in Rwanda. The SOLIDWORKS Women in Engineering program also recognizes women who have accomplished so much to help the engineering profession and their community. And at DASSAULT SYSTEMES, we are consistently working to encourage and empower our female employees through training and networking to ensure that they are involved in the STEM initiatives of the future.

Girl’s Day

Another great initiative to empower women is Girl’s Day: a German initiative that takes place every year and focuses on male-dominated professional domains (e.g. IT, engineering, etc). Also known as Career Information Day, it is a day for girls to explore their future careers. It is offered to schoolgirls from class 5 onwards, usually 10 – 17 years old. They can take a day off from school to explore a participating company of their choice.

Any company can join and offer a program that introduces products/professions/ people. The aim is to get the girls interested, show them what is possible and create good associations between those three themes.

Dassault Systèmes decided to participate in this event and host it in its brand-new 3DEXPERIENCE Lab in Munich. The goal was to provide girls with an overview of what the company is doing, what our software can do and which positions exist within the company.

 

Thirty girls between 10 and 17 came and spent a whole afternoon with the German Team. Among the five workshops organized to get them involved within the company, one was to discover 3D modeling with SOLIDWORKS Apps for Kids, which was the perfect tool to address both audience and timing.

Discovering 3D Design

They have been given one tablet or one computer for two, and they could play around with the apps. A Dassault Systèmes employee showed them the basic functions of Apps for Kids, and they got time to test. The team also answered all their questions individually.

Once they got familiarized with the application, the girls had 1 hour to produce a part in 3D. A smartphone holder was 3D printed prior, so the girls could decide between trying to reproduce it or creating their own design.

In one hour, even 10–years-old got some results (fish, duck, tree, face…).

Most of the girls had no idea of CAD before they came, and they seemed happy to discover what 3D design was. Some of them also mentioned that they were pleased not to listen to talks during the whole day, but that they could instead do something concrete by themselves!

All of them could leave the Lab with a 3D-printed smartphone holder as a souvenir of what they did that day.

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