In a bid to standardise programs designed to increase female participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), the Office of Women in STEM Ambassador has published a national guide to help those running these gender equity programs to evaluate the effectiveness of their initiatives.
The Evaluating STEM Gender Equity Programs guide[1] is an online resource that provides advice, planning tools, and other guidance, and has been organised into five steps: Define, plan, design, execute, and share.
"We're trying to attract and keep women and girls in STEM … and that end goal is to have a diverse gender balance in the STEM workforce … and if we're trying to create that change, then we need to know what's working, and we need to know what's not working and how to improve that," guide author and research associate at the Office of the Women in STEM Ambassador Isabelle Kingsley told ZDNet.
"We're really hoping that anyone running a [STEM] program will be using this guide. One of the main things that is part of this guide is that evaluation is embedded from the beginning and not tacked on at the end."
The guide has been developed based on feedback from a pilot version that was released in May.
"What people said was that it was very comprehensive, but also too long. People said wouldn't it be great if there was a shorter and quick reference version ... that was one of the main things we did … taking that piece of work and condensing it down to a shorter version," Kingsley said.
Read also: Revisiting the conversation about tech diversity and inclusion in Australia[2]
While the evaluation guide is not mandatory, Kingsley is optimistic it will foster consistency within STEM programs. The guide, for instance,