 Maryam, Ashley and Duaa As part of the ‘Women@Unitec’ initiative, a recent Come-Connect-Kōrero (CCK) session explored the challenges faced by women in STEAM – Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths, and celebrated the success of three of our well-respected lecturers. At the session – Breaking the Gender Barrier: Experiences of women in STEAM – our wonderful lecturers: Duaa Alshadli, Ashley Yan and Maryam Erfanian shared their journey from high school to where they are now, including the challenges they faced and the opportunities they took to follow their passion to succeed in a traditionally male-dominated industry. The session was attended by women across Unitec, as well as two daughters of a staff member who are pursuing studies in health and engineering related fields. Reflecting on the event, the Women@Unitec team said that the lecturers shared some very personal and inspirational stories. “They also invited questions from the floor, which allowed us to delve further into understanding the day-to-day challenges and the practices that help these wāhine do their jobs, as well as the change they’ve witnessed over time in both themselves and the society.” The common thread of the conversation was resilience. With this in mind, some key advice for women aspiring to work in STEAM industries included:
Duaa, Ashley and Maryam said they have all noticed an increasing number of women in their fields, and there are opportunities to have more influence. A common theme running through the stories shared was that things are getting better for women in STEAM – we just have to keep going, get better at listening to our own opinion and always take the chance to help another women at the table be heard. “The message to our daughters is no longer just about the importance of being brave and confident but also importance of not assuming they will have to struggle to be taken seriously and seen.”  Some of the participants at the Women in STEAM session |
Our speakersAshley Yan – Senior Lecturer, Electro Technology Duaa Alshadli – Senior Lecturer, Construction and Engineering Duaa moved to New Zealand over 20 years ago from the United Arab Emirates. After completing her post-graduate diploma, Duaa worked as a hydrographic surveyor mainly in projects involving seafloor mapping and geodetic surveying. Using her knowledge, she completed her PhD in spatial science and became a lecturer and researcher here at Unitec. Maryam Erfanian – Lecturer, Computer Science Maryam has been lecturing in Computer Science for over five years, before which she was a Data Analyst. She has a Bachelor of French Language and is currently completing her Doctorate in Computer Science. |
It was a very inspirational session, which i am sure must have been a hard conversation for some of our speakers. Thank you for sharing and inspiring.