Career aspiration laboratory work

In 2020, doll manufacturer Mattel launched a Barbie toy doll of Oxford pioneer and vaccine professor Sarah Gilbert on the market to make female researchers visible in the nursery. Children can now not only play with the Covid fighter, but also with astronaut Samantha Christoforetti or biomedical researcher Jaqueline Goes. The generation of children who now reach for Barbie has a better chance of not only locating women, and therefore themselves, in stereotypical female professions in the future, but also in science and research. According to a STEM survey conducted by Starlab International among 1,000 young people in Germany, 43.1 per cent of girls stated that they were influenced in their career choice by childhood influences such as toys, books or idols.

Low proportion of women in research
It may be some time before this changes. According to the Unesco Institute for Statistics, the global proportion of women in research and development work is less than 30 per cent. This has an impact on the career aspirations of many young people, as the STEM survey continues to show. When asked "What did you really want to be when you were a child?", just 20 of today's 498 young women said they wanted to be a scientist (4 per cent) and 5 women said they wanted to be a laboratory technician (1 per cent).

Unawareness about job profiles
„Many young people do not have a clear idea of laboratory professions and the work involved. In addition, there are serious gender differences and prejudices," says Klaus Ambos, Managing Director at Starlab International. Even a good three years after the pandemic, young women often have misconceptions about laboratory work. Almost two thirds (64.7 per cent) of female participants think they analyse blood and urine in a doctor's surgery - while only just under one in two men think this. More than one in two women (52.8 per cent) think that they mainly detect microbes in drinking water in the laboratory (men: 44.3 per cent). 37.9 per cent of women think that they only analyse PCR tests in the laboratory – among young men, the figure is only 31.5 per cent.

Young women are often influenced by their own experiences
„The problem is that most people tend to come into contact with female assistants in typical situations such as at the doctor's surgery. This creates an image in the minds of young women in particular. However, they only see a fraction of the real working world and professions – these take place outside the practice in laboratories and go beyond analysing urine and blood samples“, says Klaus Ambos with regard to the many different activities and facets in laboratories or other scientific institutions. For example, 18.9 per cent of girls can imagine themselves working in a laboratory. However, 8.4 per cent of girls think that a job at the Pipette is more for boys. On the other hand, young men are of the opinion that the lab job is something for both men (16.9 per cent) and women (18.7 per cent).

326,000 experts are missing
According to Starlab CEO Klaus Ambos, it's not just visibility that needs to change in order for both genders to aspire to STEM professions in the future. According to the latest STEM report, there is a shortage of 326,100 female specialists in Germany. This applies to both trainees and university graduates. „The STEM deficit among young people is dangerous in itself. Added to this is the gender gap, which can be attributed to education and a lack of career opportunities. Many women who actually have STEM potential have false or inaccurate ideas about STEM careers,“ says Klaus Ambos. According to him, this preconception begins at home and continues through school. According to the analysis, just as many girls (22.3 per cent) as boys (21.3 per cent) consider themselves suitable for a laboratory career due to their good grades. Just under 30 per cent of boys and girls say they are interested in a job in the natural sciences. And more than two thirds of girls (72.9 per cent) and boys (69.1 per cent) even claim that they would enjoy a job in this field. However, only very few young people in general and young women in particular make the leap into a STEM career.

Factors influencing young people's career choices
According to the Starlab analysis, 74.9 per cent of female respondents make their career choices based on personal interests and inclinations. Just under half (48.6 per cent) said they were influenced by their family. In third and fourth place, on the other hand, are impulses from childhood in the form of books, idols and toys (43.1 per cent) and school (41.9 per cent). Klaus Ambos: „In addition to the right toys, there needs to be impetus from parents, schools and the economy to make the range of STEM professions visible and inspire girls in particular, and not just on one day of the year.“

The survey
was conducted in March 2022 by the ISO 20252-certified panel provider Cint. Cint has the world's largest panellist network for digital, survey-based research, with several million active participants in more than 130 countries. As part of the survey, 1,000 young people (498 females, 489 males and 13 diverse respondents) from Germany between the ages of 16 and 19 were interviewed.

Press release from "LABO" dated 10 February 2023