SAN DIEGO (KGTV) -- In honor of “International Women's Day,” a San Diego-based nonprofit is hosting the "Women Who Inspire” conference on Friday for 200 San Diego Unified School District students from underserved schools.
Generation STEAM hosted the conference at UC San Diego Park & Market (1100 Market St.) from 9:45 a.m. to 2 p.m., and the conference hopes to inspire the female students to shake up industries that typically have low female representation.
Through motivational speeches and workshops, the students will be hearing from women in the prime of their careers, representing companies from across San Diego in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) industries.
Biocom California Community Relations Director Silvana DelPiccolo said, "This conference, like so many of our other programs, is a testament to the industry; giving back and wanting these women who are really helping to pave the way for girls to follow. A lot of them will say, ‘We didn't have this when we were younger, we didn't know these paths existed; we had ourselves,’ so we're trying to make that exposure happen more easily and earlier."
Biocom said San Diego is a hotbed for bringing up women in STEAM careers because San Diego ranks in the top 5 nationally for the number of tech jobs. However, currently women only make up 22% of this region's computers and math workforce.
Other recent stats from Biocom found that women make up nearly half of life scientists. The percentages of women in social science jobs and physical science jobs are slightly higher and lower, but only just a quarter of women are working in computer and mathematical scientist jobs. Representation of women is the lowest in the engineering field.
- Women account for 48% of life scientists
- 65% of social scientists
- 35% of physical scientists
- 26% of computer and mathematical scientists
Representation of women is the lowest in engineering (16%) among the major occupational categories in S&E.
Women earned half of science and engineering bachelor's degrees (50%) and associate’s degrees (49%). Women represented about one-third of the STEM workforce (35%), and their wages were consistently lower than men's.
Biocom is hoping the students attending the conference Friday can grow those numbers in the near future.
DelPiccolo said, "No matter your strength and your interest, there's a place for you and spend industries so you don't have to love your science class to be a scientist. You can be inspired by the work and find a role that fits your strength and interest in these companies."
