In conversation with… Anne-Marie Imafidon
Anne-Marie is the founder of The Stemettes, an award winning social enterprise that work across the UK & Ireland to support & encourage young women to choose science, technology, engineering and maths (collectively known as STEM) as careers.
Anne Marie tells us why Dame Stephanie Shirley is her role model and why she's hoping for a real digital revolution in our educational system and in the adult learning space.
Who is your inspiration and why?
Dame Stephanie Shirley is my role model. She ran a successful company of female programmers in the 60s and they worked so hard on great projects despite the circumstances.
Are there still taboos around subjects related to women that you feel need to be broken or need greater awareness?
I’d love for us to fully shift a social norm: the one that says that girls don’t do technical things. So we’d see more women in STEM - in soaps, in the papers, as toys and as part of national discourse.
How do you feel about International Women's Day?
International Women’s Day on the 8 March is a peak of activity for Stemettes. A global celebration of women and those that empower them.
For us it’s an exciting day because it allows us to have STEM and technical women be a part of that wider narrative because it is something that hasn’t always been part of that discussion of women’s rights and women’s progression specifically in technology.
Looking at the future, what do you feel the young women of today can be most excited about?
I’m hoping for a real digital revolution in our educational system and in the adult learning space. Exams done digitally, more people accessing online platforms for learning. There is also so much about empowering people to learn themselves in ways that suit them, at times that suit them. Stemettes is certainly helping girls explore their options for learning - especially when they don’t have the right kind of support already.
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