hey, hello, hi!
I’m Meg. I’m 24, mixed race, born in Reading, grew up in Dorset and currently living and studying in Cardiff. I am in my 5th (and final!) year at Cardiff University, studying Medical Engineering – dont worry I will explain this in WAY more detail in another blog post.
I absolutely adore travelling and I’ve been blessed enough to see some incredible parts of the world (don’t worry, there will definitely be blog posts on this!). I love sport, mostly football and I support Reading FC… UP THE DING. I’m also going to share with you a secret love of mine… QUIZ SHOWS. Honestly, I will literally watch any quiz show; even those shows on at 2pm with presenters you’ve never heard of. My favourite is The Chase and I will challenge anyone who doesn’t agree that it’s the best. I also LOVE Richard Osman’s House of Games – the variety of games is so good. Anyway, this isn’t a blog about quiz shows so let’s get on with it!
I’ve considered creating a blog for SO LONG now and after digging deep and finding some confidence and self belief… here she is! Honestly, I’m mostly using it as a much welcomed break from the pressure and work load my masters is currently putting me under. My vision for Girls who STEM is to create an environment that celebrates and inspires the female population. As well as uncovering the good, the bad and the ugly sides of being a woman in engineering.
For those of you who don’t know, STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths: 4 sectors notoriously dominated by men. And while there are increasing resources and movements to promote and encourage females into STEM subjects, it isn’t surprising that of the entire workforce in all core-STEM subjects, only 24% are women [1]. Additionally, us gals only make up 25% of university graduates in core-STEM subjects [1].
I am incredibly lucky to be surrounded by wonderful female figures. My mum is my absolute world, she’s helped me through every single aspect of my life and I owe her everything. My sister inspires me every day, she’s smart and beautiful, determined and probably too honest for her own good. I get a lot of my personality traits from my auntie and I love her with my whole heart. And my nan, the diamond in the family, has been there at a drop of a hat when I’ve needed her the most. These people are the reason I’ve had a fairly seamless academic journey so far and I want to identify my privilege from the start. Having said that though, it has not been easy by any stretch. I am also grossly aware that this isn’t the case for so many women out there and this blog is my way of exploring WHY women are so under represented within the science and tech world and HOW we can change and improve that.
So, thank you so much if you’ve reached this far on my first blog post (EEK). Let me know if there’s anything you want to know more about or any particular blog posts you’d like to see from me – I’m all ears.
Final note: I have set up a Girls who STEM instagram too so go give that a follow for even more content! I would absolutely LOVE to hear your STEM journey stories too so please feel free to share in the comment section below or ping me a message over on the gram.
All my love, Meg x
P.S I’ll be including references to any information that has come from another source – part of supporting other women (and men) in STEM is crediting their hard work. You’ll find the links at the end of each blog post. Please feel free to click on them for extra information!
[1] – https://www.stemwomen.co.uk/blog/2021/01/women-in-stem-percentages-of-women-in-stem-statistics
Girls Who STEM 