Frauen in MINT - Women in STEM
Women | Life Journeys | Stories
„Frauen in MINT – Women in STEM“ is a corporate initiative of the EXPERIMINTA ScienceCenters and the VDI Bezirksvereins Frankfurt-Darmstadt with the support of the Akademie des Handwerks Schloss Raesfeld and Fraunhofer India.
Experiences, successes, but also challenges.
This is what inspiring women from the academic and technical fields of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) report about in our new special exhibition „Frauen in MINT – Women in STEM“.
The focus of the exhibition is on authentic and personal interviews with numerous women who provide insights into their careers in professions associated with men so far. They talk about their childhood dreams, their enthusiasm for their work and encourage girls and young women to follow their STEM path in the trades, science and industry.
What inspires them? What motivates them? What challenges did they have to face? Immerse yourself in the diversity of STEM professions and discover role models for your own path!
Because: STEM is for everyone, even if it's shining pink!
The new special exhibition will open on 12.02.2025 with a symposium for invited guests in the EXPERIMINTA ScienceCenter, before it will be accessible to all visitors from 13.02.2025.
The EXPERIMINTA ScienceCenter and the Verein Deutscher Ingenieure VDI e.V. are organizing the project together with the Akademie des Handwerks Schloss Raesfeld and Fraunhofer India in collaboration with the Science Gallery in Bangalore. The exhibition is not a stand-alone event, but rather the start of a long-term initiative to break down gender stereotypes and get more girls and young women interested in STEM professions.
The initiative has the aim of increasing awareness of women in professions that are still considered “atypical” for them by society with its traveling exhibition and accompanying great small and large events. Because there is still a general perception that girls are not interested in mathematics, computer science, natural sciences or technology. Women in STEM fields are still exceptions or are perceived as such. Despite many years of engagement for equality, the framework conditions for women do not fit in the same way as they do for men. As a result, there is a clear lack of women in management positions in these areas, especially above a certain level of responsibility. Only 9% of women work in a STEM profession, compared to over a third of men (source: MINT-DataLab 2024 | MINTvernetzt, Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft e.V.).
We were able to recruit a wide variety of women from different countries in academic and technical STEM professions for the exhibition, who will tell us about their experiences, successes and challenges. Prof. Dr. Kristina Sinemus, the Hessian Minister for Digitalization and Innovation, is the patron of the event. In addition Susanne Haus, President of the Handwerkskammer Frankfurt RheinMain, will also be supporting our project, along with many other companions.
The exhibition aims to show, ...
- how diverse great women are involved in STEM fields across national borders and what life paths these women have taken,
- how similar the challenges are in both academic and technical fields,
- how different and yet similar the women and their experiences are - across continents - and
- that the visibility of women in STEM professions is not just an issue for women, but illustrates the significant contribution women make to innovation and the economic strength of a society.
The special exhibition “Frauen in MINT - Women in STEM” is designed as a traveling exhibition and is part of a broad-based project. From the end of April 2025, the exhibition will go on tour and will be shown at various locations in different institutions. The Akademie des Handwerks Schloss Raesfeld and the Handwerk Nordrhein-Westfalen have already confirmed their participation. The aim is to reach people of all ages and nationalities within Germany, especially girls and women, but also boys and men.
In addition to the portraits, an accompanying online campaign is launched via an individual Instagram channel. It will present not only the exhibition and the people portrayed there, but also other exciting women from various STEM fields, including portraits of great STEM women from earlier eras. Furthermore, there are insights into the diversity of STEM professions as well as exciting statistics and facts. The overarching aim is to get girls and young women interested in these still “atypical” career paths and to awaken and promote interest in STEM disciplines in society.
We want to counter the prejudice that STEM is not for girls!
