Girls’ Day 2024: young girls visit ME and CEG
This year’s Girl’s Day took place on 11 April. It’s a special day that allows girls to experience how valuable and fun an engineering education can be. Almost 80 girls from Years 7, 8 and 9 from schools in Leiden and Schiedam came to TU Delft and were introduced to engineering at the Faculties of Mechanical Engineering (ME) and Civil Engineering and Geosciences (CEG).
If you’d like to know more or contribute to a Girls’ Day in the future, please contact Maretta Broek (m.l.broek@tudelft.nl) or Jorika Heemskerk (J.H.M.Heemskerk@tudelft.nl)
More and more women are opting for engineering, but there is still a lot of ground to be gained. That’s why it’s important to inspire and inform girls at an early age. On Girls’ Day, this was done with a varied programme. For example, the girls attended various workshops on mechanical engineering, marine technology, civil engineering and applied earth sciences. Among other things, they were able to see for themselves how a prosthetic hand works, try to build a stable structure floating on water, experiment with rivers in a sandbox and work on a chemical puzzle made of water and stones. ‘I never knew this was all related to engineering,’ said one of the students. Indeed, more than 70% of the girls have a different, more positive perception of engineering now, according to the evaluation shows.
I never knew this was all related to engineering
We need women
Girls, like boys, have a talent for scientific subjects. The fact that women do not opt for studies and careers in these fields is due to gender stereotypes, a limited image of technical studies and careers, low self-confidence in science subjects and a lack of role models (source: the National Expert Organisation on Girls/Women and Science/Technology, VHTO). This is true despite the fact that the demand for technical talent will only increase in the coming years due to major societal challenges. A technology sector that reflects society will ensure better and more diverse technologies for our society.
More on the radar
Girls’ Day is a national initiative of the VHTO, involving an average of 9,000 girls and 250 companies each year. The female role models from the ME and CEG faculties who participated in Girls’ Day definitely see the added value. ‘Girls don’t think about technology enough, or sometimes not at all. But this is where they really belong,’ they all agree. Hopefully, Girls’ Day will have inspired a few more girls again this year. Who knows, perhaps we’ll see them back in the lecture halls in a few years’ time.
