Supporting women and girls in science: building brighter and more prosperous futures by elevating girls in education

Female representation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) worldwide is disproportionately low. Women make-up half the world’s population but account for only 33.3% of researchers globally. 

The need for gender equality across the scientific sector is crucial. Educating women in STEM positively impacts the economic development of not only a single country but the world as a whole.

Bridge Community Schools support equity and gender equality within each school. Using powerful technology to drive evidence-based data that focuses on learning outcomes, Bridge Community Schools’ learning guides, materials and lesson plans are carefully curated to achieve academic excellence for all pupils, regardless of gender.

Bridge paves the way to a brighter future for girls, offering accelerated learning that builds success and opens doors to further education. This model supports alumni to go on and study at some of the best secondary schools in their country, and even onto US universities on full scholarships.  

Bridge Kenya alumna Grace Kerubo was awarded a scholarship to Amherst College in the US and has always aspired to work in medicine, as she explained:

I want to be a doctor. I am currently keeping myself on a pre-medicine track with hopes of eventually going to medical school and pursuing the career I have always aspired to and dreamt of.

It’s important for girls to recognise the need for female representation in STEM. The demand for services within each field continues to grow and the need for female researchers is imperative in order to keep up with these growing demands. The world needs more girls thriving in STEM subjects and then STEM careers.

I believe that gender bias towards or against STEM really does start in young children, – so said Professor James Stirling, PHD, first ever Provost of the world-famous Imperial College, London, a global centre of excellence in STEM.

Bridge aims to tackle gender bias in STEM through using a gender-sensitive approach to learning instructions, school management and co-curricular activities. These processes and policies help to enhance exam performance levels in girls, enabling them to outperform their male peers and close the gender learning gap within education as  a whole, and in STEM in particular.