CU-WISE exists because of what we know currently—and the social environment was presented before—that females' interest in math and science takes a drastic drop as early as the age of seven. By the age of 15 they have completely lost their confidence and their ability, which is shocking considering the fact that there are no gender differences between males and females on the science scale. Their abilities are there; however, their confidence is severely lacking.
It's also interesting that female enrolment in Canadian universities is actually 40% higher than males'. However, females do tend to choose social sciences, arts, health, and education. Now, there's nothing wrong with any of those fields, obviously. However, where WISE steps in is to ensure that we encourage and support any of these girls who want to pursue a career in STEM and really highlight their potential and the availability of really cool fields.
Our approach is a multi-modal approach. We have outreach programs in which we look at high school and elementary levels, and we'll be talking about that in more depth. We also have social programs on campus to support current students in science and engineering. These social programs range from networking events at our local bar all the way down to destressing yoga and lectures provided by different committee or community members at Carleton. Our outreach programs centre on real-world problems...[Technical Difficulty—Editor].
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