(Flickr | DFID)

On the 8th December 2020, Inova Consultancy, the United Kingdom successfully held their focus group for the first phase of the exciting new EU project MentoraSTEAM. Migrants in the UK originally from a diverse range of countries all joined us. The voices of our online focus group connected and captured a range of experiences which helped Inova to really understand the challenges migrant women are facing in the STEAM sector.

Inova was able to capture some of the most pressing issues for this group of women right now:

  • Inadequate access to childcare
    Challenges of returning to the STEAM sector following a career break
  • Access to information
    Policymakers and employers need more knowledge regarding the employment of migrant women and legal issues regarding Visas
  • Gender
    It can be challenging to work in a sector which is often dominated by men

In addition to the focus group, some women who were not able to attend, sent their thoughts via email and another thought raised was the gender pay gap.

Finally, we saw in the group the power of networking to help build the confidence of migrant women in this field and tackle negative feelings of alienation and isolation. Moving forward, our MentoraSTEAM project will progress to develop tailored programme for migrant women including bespoke training to reach and benefit migrant women in STEAM.
Stay tuned for more updates!