EVALUATING THE IMPACT OF TARGETED MENTORSHIP AND RESOURCE AGGREGATION ON BRIDGING THE STEM GENDER GAP IN SECONDARY EDUCATION: A Regional Case Study of STEMinine
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Despite expanding global efforts to diversify Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines, female secondary school students continue to report a pervasive guidance deficit, a lack of structured academic roadmaps, and limited exposure to technical competitions. This paper presents a self-evaluation of STEMinine, a grassroots initiative designed to address the gender disparity in technical disciplines across secondary education. Using pre/post self-report surveys collected across workshop cohorts and platform users ($N = 450$ at baseline), this study describes changes in self-reported guidance access, competition awareness, and technical engagement among participants. Before the intervention, 83.6% of surveyed students reported no access to formal academic or career counseling in technical fields, and 78.2% reported no awareness of international STEM competitions. Following program participation, self-reported guidance access rose to 88.2%, competition awareness to 94.7%, self-reported problem-solving confidence to 85.1%, and 41.2% of participants reported submitting a competition entry or independent technical project within six months. These findings are consistent with a positive association between structured mentorship and resource access and participants' self-reported technical engagement.
Authors: Abd Elkarem, Mariam, Onyegbule, Daniella
Language: English
Subfield: Safety Research
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7203682325
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