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What is the step towards progress?
Answers
Answer:
In 2013, Silicon Republic CEO and Inspirefest founder Ann O’Dea launched the Women Invent campaign.
The aim was simple: purposefully spotlight and profile more women working in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) on this platform. What was remarkable was that something so basic was so necessary.
We had read the studies and interpreted the data. STEM sectors suffered from a lack of gender diversity.
Young girls without role models could see no pathway, and the women further down the pipeline were disappearing instead of advancing in their careers.
At the time, the cause for better gender balance in STEM was not the in-vogue topic it is today, on the eve of International Women’s Day 2018. In five years, we have witnessed a shift in the conversation. It was gradual but forceful.
Now, I hope that those raising their voices on this issue no longer feel like they’re shouting into the void.
The problem – and it is a very real and damaging problem – can no longer be dismissed. We have arrived, finally, at acknowledgement, but we will not stop at acceptance.
Starting the conversation is step one. Talk, now, must become action.
In line with this year’s International Women’s Day theme, our latest Women Invent 100 – a list of 100 inspiring, powerful women in STEM – is dedicated to those who are pressing for progress.
These women are actively engaged in addressing the gender gap in STEM and shortening the timeline to gender equality.
They are challenging stereotypes and bias, forging positive visibility of women, influencing others’ beliefs and actions, and celebrating other women’s achievements.
Some are well known, the vanguards of the cause. Others are part of smaller movements, but no less deserving of their place on this list. Yes, we need superstars, but we need the grassroots grafters too, whose hard work can often be hidden behind the scenes. We see you.
We see those who have done more than pay lip service to gender equality. We see those who have tirelessly toiled in environments that aren’t always welcome to the change they beckon. We see those who are tired of pointing out the same issues again and again, yet still won’t stop.