Britain needs more women and girls in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), post-Brexit, according to Cherie Blair.
The human rights lawyer and wife of the former Prime Minister Tony Blair, said more needs to be done to encourage girls to take up these subjects and the perception that women “don’t do science” needs to be challenged.
Speaking to the publication i at the Asian Women of Achievement Awards (AWAA), Blair said, “It’s so important because people don’t think women do science.”
“The whole thing about STEM is making sure our daughters and everybody understands that these are industries that are not closed to women.”
Blair continued saying that as Britain prepares to “go it alone” as it exits the European Union, it could be succeed within the science and technology industries, as long as they were inclusive.
She said, “One of the things where we could really succeed is in science and technology, but to do that we have to make sure that we are recruiting from every segment of society so we get the best talent.”
“That’s men and women.”
Encouraging more women into STEM has been a hot topic recently. In April 2017, tech industry leaders asserted that more needed to be done to encourage girls into ICT.
Victoria Grey, CMO at Nexsan said, “The technology industry is well known for being a male dominated environment, which is a shame because I think a diverse industry is the starting point for exceptional innovation and development as new perspectives can encourage out of the box thinking and creativity.”
“As technology leaders, it is important that encourage the next generation of girls to embark on a career in ICT and take steps to remedy the lack of females in the industry and guarantee a more diverse and innovative workforce in the future.”
