Migrant women continue to face difficulties and challenges in their professional careers. Highly skilled migrant women tend to face a double disadvantage as a result of discrimination towards women and particularly those from a migrant background especially in non traditional sectors such as in Science, Engineering, Arts and Technology (STEAM). As a migrant, further barriers of underemployment and deskilling occurs. Migrants are often in positions they are overqualified for. It has been found that migrants tend to possess higher educational attainment compared with their native-born peers in many different countries (Eurostat, 2018). Yet, they do not seem to be accepted for positions which match their competencies. Women who are looking for employment, or are employed, in the STEAM sector can face further challenges in their professional journey, especially as a highly skilled migrant and as a minority in a male dominated profession. Highly skilled migrant women face challenges and barriers in areas such as the lack of recognition of their degrees. In 2017, 59% of men and 41% women were scientists and engineers in the EU (Eurostat, 2019). Women made up a minority of all ICT specialists working in the European Union, at 17.2% (Eurostat, 2018). The MentoraSTEAM project aims to develop highly skilled migrant women’s self-efficacy, confidence and soft skills in the STEAM sector in order to boost employability. There is a need to tackle this issue transnationally as women are underrepresented and are subjected to a gender gap globally (World Economic Forum, 2020). Furthermore, migrant women tend to have lower self-efficacy, especially in the STEAM sector (Tellhed et al, 2016; Gjersoe, 2018). Research has shown that initiatives to boost women’s confidence are important as it can encourage them to pursue a career in STEAM or stay in the field (Perez-Felkner, 2018). Therefore, there is a need for the partner countries of this project to work collaboratively to tackle the issues migrant women in STEAM face and to inform stakeholders of the challenges this target group currently face. The methodology of the current project will focus on the development of the MentoraSTEAM Policy Framework Guide (IO1), MentoraSTEAM Employability Booster (IO2) and MentoraSTEAM Circles™ (IO3). The MentoraSTEAM Policy Framework Guide will compile a comprehensive guide which will include case studies, existing initiatives (on a European and national scale) and focus group findings from all partner countries. This will be beneficial for further understanding of the disadvantages women experience in STEAM across a range of stakeholders from employers to Chambers of Commerce amongst others. As a result of the findings from the guide, the MentoraSTEAM Employability Booster training will be developed taking into consideration what has been found in the research conducted in the first output. 4 modules will be delivered by the partnership and two pilot testing phases will be carried out to boost the employability in highly skilled migrant women in STEAM. Migrant women will be invited to attend the MentoraSTEAM Circles™. They will be provided with peer mentoring sessions facilitated by an experienced trainer. This will further develop their skills and encourage them to set actions points for them to achieve while increasing their self-efficacy. A total of 8 multiplier events will take place in the project lifetime. After the finalisation of IO1, all partners will carry out an event to disseminate the findings of IO1. After the finalisation of all outputs, another multiplier event will take place in each partner country. The last 4 multiplier events will celebrate the achievements of the MentoraSTEAM project. It will inspire and empower women in STEAM and motivate stakeholders to take action in order to engage more this target group in their organisations. Through this project, the partnership can have an international effect on the development of skills for women in STEAM backgrounds and contribute to their empowerment. There will be a long-term effect of the project as it will improve social connectivity and build relationships between women in STEAM. Furthermore, it will provide women in STEAM with hope and skills for a more equal future. Main results: - Empowerment and training of migrant women with a STEAM background. There will be a development of new skills and development of existing skills. Thus, improving employability. - Building awareness of the inequalities and challenges of migrant women with STEAM background. Building connections between women who experience this inequality to empower one another and continue to work together outside of the project to spread the word. - Improve knowledge and understanding of the challenges this target group currently face amongst employers, employment agencies, the third sector, Chambers of Commerce and VET centres amongst others.
The main objective of the project was to boost migrant women’s employability in the STEAM sector. Partners’ aimed to achieve this by producing a Policy Framework Guide (IO1) and an Employability Booster Training Programme (IO2). The MentoraSTEAM consortium aimed to raise awareness of the talent migrant women in the STEAM sector with the Policy Framework Guide (IO1). Raising awareness among companies, policy makers and stakeholders was important to highlight migrant women’s underrepresentation in the STEAM field. The project also aimed to produce a comprehensive training programme (Employability Booster Programme) that can support migrant women in STEAM. The main objective was to increase the target audience’s self-efficacy and soft skills needed to navigate in a male dominated work environment and subsequently their employability.
The majority of migrants are skilled or highly skilled but they often face underemployment or deskilling. Matching the skills migrants have to the jobs they are offered could improve the productivity of the host country’s economy (ILO, 2019, p. 2-3). Highly skilled migrant women often face further challenges and a double disadvantage, for example by “receiving a smaller earnings premium” (IOM, 2012, p. 165). Women are underrepresented in the STEAM sector. Migrant women face further challenges and barriers (e.g., recognition of degrees) in STEAM careers. Due to gender stereotypes there is a confidence gap between women and men in this field and women tend to have lower self-efficacy (belief that someone can succeed in a domain) related to STEM subjects (Tellhed et al, 2016; Gjersoe, 2018). Boosting women’s confidence is a key to encourage them to pursue a career in STEAM or stay in the field (Perez-Felkner, 2018). Women in STEAM who have higher confidence are more likely to succeed in their field (Sherbin, 2018). The MentoraSTEAM project aimed to address this phenomena by supporting migrant women’s self-efficacy and subsequently their employability, and also by raising awareness of their underrepresentation among employers.