STEM+Gender Program in partnership with Escondida| BHP promotes scientific education in girls and teenagers.

The initiative seeks to promote gender equality, the development of STEM skills (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and the use of technological tools among students.

Today only 15% of women in the world take careers in technology or science. The figure is even more discouraging in Chile, where the female representation is only 7%.

That is why the STEM+Gender Program that Lab4U carries out in partnership with Escondida | BHP seeks to transform science learning in children and adolescents, encouraging the development of future scientists, men and women, engineers, and STEM change agents in our society, achieving a direct impact on the future workforce, mainly of female students from Antofagasta. Hence, increasing, empowering and inspiring them in their science and technology learning, with the aim of contributing to the reduction of the existing gender gap in the various industries.

Thus, both institutions work in collaboration after identifying great coincidences in their social purposes: Escondida | BHP aims to encourage the participation of women in STEM areas and thus achieving a representation of 50% of women within the company before 2025. Meanwhile, Lab4U seeks to promote STEM education for girls and boys to break down learning and gender gaps in the schools, society and the future of work.

During the development of the program, the children participate in specialized instances on equity and empowerment of women in STEM with various face-to-face activities that address conversations and instances of empowerment, invitation of collaborators from Escondida | BHP, field trips and STEM experiments or challenges.

In terms of figures, in addition to the 150 benefited girls, we expect to impact more than 300 students will in favor of raising awareness of women in STEM; girls will have access to 45 face-to-face hours in STEM areas and the 3 selected teachers from the Liceo Bicentenario Marta Narea Díaz, The Antofagasta Baptist College and the Mario Bahamondes Silva High School, will have hours of training for teachers in experimentation and gender perspective.

Mira este video de nuestra visita en Antofagasta:

As a result, the STEM + Gender Program seeks to achieve a direct impact on the greater motivation and interest of girls to pursue STEM careers in local Antofagasta institutions, in the teachers who will have training and empowerment to train their students using didactic, technological and peer strategies; and in the community, which will strengthen the relation with Escondida | BHP creating a STEM education guarantee seal.

“As a company we promote this program that in a playful way seeks to attract the attention of many young people who are looking for their future profession. It is an invitation to break paradigms to advance gender equality and dare to discover careers that are a source of innovation, sustainability and leadership in the world of work”, says Elizabeth Cameron

Corporate Affairs Specialist, Escondida | BHP.

To learn more about this program, we invite you to visit our Instagram, where you will find an audiovisual record of the different instances of this initiative. If you want to generate an impact in your community through STEM, write to us! [email protected]