Are parents keeping girls out of STEM Careers?

Blame the parents. They may want the best for their children, but many end up directing them away from certain areas of study based on outdated notions of “acceptable” careers.

A major Government-commissioned report into the shortage of female graduates in Stem (science, technology, engineering and maths) found that parents are heavily influencing their daughters’ career choices in particular.

Despite this, mothers and fathers generally lack information about career options and are a key barrier to their daughters entering the field.

This is backed up by a 2015 Accenture report. Its survey of 500 parents in Ireland and the UK found only one-in-seven felt very informed on the different career opportunities available to them.

This is despite the fact that more than half of 1,500 girls and young women surveyed in the same report said their parents were the biggest influence on the subjects they chose at school.

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