Women in STEM - Communications Committee

For the past year, I have had the great opportunity to work with fellow female science faculty students to develop the young student initiative 'Women in Stem VU'. Founded only in October 2022 by two female master students, I was lucky to have found the initiative before the winter break, expressed my interest in joining them, and been placed on their communications committee. Even though the initiative had just begun, we were able to host a wide variety of events throughout the second semester of the year, targeted towards spreading awareness of the initiative itself but first and forward about women in the stem fields, the many achievements they have had, especially the ones they do not get recognised for, and how we can shape the future of female participation in the sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Gender equality and diversity are essential to me; as a young woman interested in mostly male-dominated fields, I see the issues we face daily. In my first year of computer science, I only had one female lecturer. The split in my course is 80% male and 20% female; it is very rare to be put in a group with a fellow female student. Representation matters so much to young women choosing their education or career paths; too many are still discouraged from pursuing their interests. While our initiative is mainly focused on connecting the women already at the VU to working professionals and offering a space to network and connect, some Spanish-speaking members have begun collaborating with international schools in Amsterdam, where they bring the joy of the sciences to the youngest.

I met excellent students, PhD candidates, professionals, and female staff at the VU throughout the last year. I learned a lot of creative skills in creating the promotion for our event as well as gained some insights into how to establish a student initiative. Our two co-heads are leaving the VU this year as they are graduating; even though WiSTEM has gained some recognition, we still have a long way to establish it as, possibly, a student organisation. I'm looking forward to being a part of this group and helping the transition over the summer into our second year at the VU. There will be a lot of work ahead of me and the other few internal members who are not graduating, but I'm looking forward to embracing the challenge and playing a significant part in shaping a space for women at the VU for years to come.