Canadian universities aim to entice women to enter science fields
Posted March 1, 2015 9:28 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO (NEWS1130) – Several Canadian universities are offering programs for young girls aimed at getting more women to enter the fields of science, technology, engineering and math.
Last September, the first-year undergraduate engineering class at the University of Toronto saw 365 women, a 25 per cent increase from the year before.
At the University of British Columbia, 29 per cent of its first-year engineering students this year are women, a 61-per-cent jump from 2010.
Dawn Britton of University of Toronto attributes part of that upswing to all-girl science classes for young children.
At U-of-T Britton says the goal is to get girls as young at eight years old interested in science.
Toronto’s York University runs all-girl courses that teach science through superheroes, while at the University of Waterloo, programs begin for girls as young as six.
Jennifer Flanagan of Actua, an Ottawa-based charity that encourages science education in children, says parents are a major obstacle for girls getting interested in science.
Flanagan says parents often give their daughters false impressions of careers like engineering and that leads to fewer women entering the field.
