If there are 2 things, I love then it is talking and equality. Therefore, there is nothing better when these 2 things come as a combination. On the 8th November 2021, I was invited as a guest speaker at a forum hosted by ‘DTU Feministik Forum’ at DTU Skylab. ‘DTU Feministik Forum’ is a forum, which has been founded by 6 female engineering students who believe it is important to start conversations about feminism at university. Engineering is a male-dominated area; therefore, it is important to give females a place to talk and share their experiences with other like-minded people. Their aim is to make DTU a comfortable and safe place for everyone to be at. They host monthly open forums, where everyone from Denmark’s Technical University is welcome.
Their theme for this month was ‘Female Role models’. I was invited to share my experience as a student at DTU and talk about the work I do through ‘Nordic Women in STEM’. The interview started with Freja introducing me and asking me questions about my experience at DTU, why I started Nordic Women in STEM, my own role-models and the importance of role-models. You can see the talk here:
The interview was followed by a plenum discussion regarding different aspects of female role-models. The plenum discussion hosted was extremely insightful, and it was amazing to hear the different opinions on the topic. People came up with some very important points, for example how everyone had experienced that every time there was a female professor, people were very quick to judge her and put her in a “box”, whereas when there is a male professor, then no one forms a personal judgment about them. Another point was how during high school everyone experienced that the girls in class would be seen as smart and very capable, but in university a lot of women experienced that they were asked to step back from the “technical” bits, but instead focus on report-writing and more of administrative tasks in group projects. We discussed where this kind of attitude comes from, how and why it’s formed. Overall, it was very intriguing to hear people’s point of views on all the different subjects.
I think the best part of being at the forum was to being able to talk openly about different things and share our experiences. Before the event, I had an image that it would be mostly girls who would show up, but to my surprise many male students also showed up – and were very actively involved. It is great to see both the genders talk about the challenges that exist and work towards fixing them in cooperation. No issue can be solved independently, and the first step towards the solution is realising the issue, which is happening, and it is great to see that happen around oneself!
I would like to thank the organisers of such an incredible and much-needed event. I am glad that they saw the lack of such initiatives and chose to take things in their own hands. If you are interested in joining, then they are hosting their next forum on the 10th January 2022.
You can read more about DTU Feministik Forum here:
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