Jenter og teknologi (Girls and Technology) was founded in 2003. A partnership consisting of a number of social partners and the University of Agder came together to improve the recruitment of girls to the university's techonology study programmes. Through events with female role models, they were able to inspire and inform girls about the possibilities within technology education.

The share of women in technology studies in Norway remains low(1). In light of this, the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO) decided to upscale the project to a national level in 2016. With funding from the Ministry of Children and Equality the project has now been carried out for three years, and continues on in 2019.

 

Project goals

The overarching goal for Girls and Technology is to increase the share of women in technology studies. Technology in this context is defined according to STEM – science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Vocational training and education is included in the project goals. The three subgoals for the project are then:

• To increase the share of women in STEM higher education
• To Increase the share of women in technical vocational education and training
• To Increase the share of women in technical vocational colleges
  
  

Target groups

The main target group is girls between the ages of 13-19, that are currently attending lower or upper secondary school. In addition, we aim to influence parents of the girls in the target group, as they have a significant influence on their children's choice of education. Likewise, career councillors are also a target group in the project.

 

Partnership

The partnership consists of three main groups – social partners, the educational system and the government. In addition, there are many affiliated organisations that in various ways contribute to the activities in the project, such as NITO (The Norwegian Society of Engineers and Technologists) and . See below for an illustrated overview of the partnership.

 

Methodology

The methodology that pervades all activities in the project is using young, female role models to motivate and inform about technology studies and work within technology(2).

 

 

1: Between 3 and 11% of technical vocational students are women (Statistics Norway, 2015). 20% of Norwegian engineering students are women (Norwegian Centre for Research Data, 2017)

2: A large number of studies state that the use of role models has a plethora of positive effects on role aspirants. See for instance page 24-25 in Morgenroth, Thekla, "How Role Models Affects Role Aspirants' Motivation and Goals" (2015).