5. What is the Welsh Government doing to encourage more women and girls to study and follow careers in science, technology, engineering and maths? OQ56339

Llywydd, the Welsh Government actively supports all girls and young women in Wales to study STEM subjects and pursue careers in STEM. We provide annual funding to STEM organisations within the education sector. This year, the Welsh Government will support the International Women’s Day event on gender equality in STEM subjects, to be held here in Wales.

Thank you, First Minister. Throughout the pandemic, we've seen some remarkable work and achievements of scientists and engineers. From producing vaccines in record time to testing systems, identifying new variants, producing data analysis and the development of new medicines and protective equipment, the pandemic has highlighted the vital role of STEM.

Amongst those achievements have been some amazing women leading: Dr Moore, who led the effort to establish COVID testing in Wales; Dr Hayhurst, who is the lead scientist on a new form of rapid testing; and, of course, Dr Gillian Richardson, who leads our fantastic COVID vaccination programme in Wales, which is the quickest of all the UK nations. These women are leading in their fields, but, sadly, we all know that women and girls are far less likely to pursue STEM subjects in school, and, as such, do not follow on into these careers.

The pandemic has elevated our scientists and engineers onto a public platform, and highlighted how important their work is for all of us. How can we use this last year to promote STEM subjects to our young women and girls, and make sure that we get more Dr Moores, Dr Hayhursts and Dr Richardsons in the future?

I thank Jayne Bryant for that and agree with her about the outstanding quality of individuals we have here in Wales as role models for young women thinking of careers in STEM subjects. There's been some good progress in recent times; more girls than boys now study biology, physics and chemistry in Wales at GCSE level, and over half of our nearly 20,000 STEM apprenticeships in Wales are now taken up by young women rather than young men. So, there are some breakthroughs that are happening.

Role models are really important in that. The women in STEM board that we have here in Wales—it met last October and was attended by our colleagues Jane Hutt and Kirsty Williams to make clear the Welsh Government's support for the leadership of women in those subjects here in Wales and in those jobs that Jayne Bryant highlighted, and the way in which they can inspire others to follow in their footsteps.

I know that Jayne Bryant will be interested that, at the start of March, Careers Wales is holding an event very close to her part of the world, designed specifically to try to attract young women into the jobs in semiconductor professions and so on that are clustered around the south-east of Wales, and where persuading young women to think of those jobs as their futures is absolutely part of the way in which that event is being organised.

First Minister, I'm 42 now and had a couple of friends—strong-willed ladies—who broke the mould all those many, many moons ago, when I was younger, and had glittering careers as engineers in a very, very male-dominated environment; it was virtually unheard of when I was younger. The situation, as has been outlined just now, has got an awful lot of better, but it still has a long way to go to be how it should be.

These are vital areas that we need our future generations of all genders to excel at now, making it particularly more accessible for women, obviously, and women to be encouraged to sign up to. As you've outlined, the take-up for apprenticeships has got better, but it still has a long way to go. Career advice in schools tends to guide women towards apprenticeships that are in sectors where pay is less than those dominated by men. But what is the Welsh Government doing to tackle the gender imbalance in career advice in schools? And how are you working with the Fair Work Commission to stop the perpetuation of gender inequality and to meet the equality objectives that your Government has set? Thank you.

Well, Llywydd, the event that I referred to in answering Jayne Bryant's question is an event that will be run by the careers service, so I would be very disappointed if it were the case that the careers service is actively continuing stereotypical directions for young men or young women in the workplace, and I'm sure that that is not the intention of the service.

It's an uphill battle, as the Member will know. I agree with her that there's far more that needs to be done. I have a young grandson, and you have to work really hard to make sure that you don't end up just buying things that are pushed at us all as being the right things for young boys to have, rather than offering a more rounded idea of what life could be like. And that is certainly true for young women who have got all of those things pushed at them by the commercial world and so on. So, the Welsh Government puts its shoulder to the wheel in the opposite direction, using the services that we have, and the many people who are there in private businesses as well as in the public service who want to make sure that that wider range of opportunities is positively promoted to young women and girls entering the workplace. We do it in a world that still has some pretty deep-seated conventional attitudes and so on, but that just means that that work is all the more necessary.

Question 6, Helen Mary Jones.

[Inaudible.]

I'm not hearing Helen Mary's question.

I'm sorry, Llywydd, I think my microphone was in the incorrect position.

Yes, it was on top of your head. [Laughter.]

Clearly the incorrect position. I do apologise. [Laughter.]

Carry on.